Incumbents enjoy many advantages when they seek reelection, but their distinct disadvantages (such as not fulfilling promises or staying within the status quo) are ripe weaknesses for opposing candidates to knock them down. Studying the US’s Barack Obama, Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky, and France’s Emmanuel Macron, among many other candidates, political strategist Louis Perron, PhD, describes tactics to assess the strength of the incumbent, the quality of the challenger, and how to control and win a campaign.


Readers interested in running for office or in assisting a political campaign will learn how to build a top-notch team, define your target audience, increase your media presence, develop your message, advertise effectively, deliver great speeches, and prepare to win debates. For relatively new challengers, Perron demonstrates how lack of experience has become less important and how these weaknesses can be neutralized. When campaigns turn ugly and play dirty, he instructs candidates how to combat against character attacks and how they can make a comeback if they lose the election.


With over a decade of experience orchestrating political campaigns around the globe, Perron’s Beat the Incumbent is the essential step-by-step guide for any level of political office to challenge an incumbent and, once victory is claimed, how you can avoid the same traps to effect change and win reelection.