Key [1949. Southern Politics in State and Nation. New York: A.A. Knopf] observed voters tend to support local candidates at higher rates, a phenomenon he termed “friends-and-neighbors” voting. In a recent study, Panagopoulos et al. [2017. Political Behavior 39(4): 865–82] deployed a nonpartisan randomized field experiment to show that voters in the September 2014 primary election for state senate in Massachusetts were mobilized on the basis of shared geography. County ties and, to a lesser extent, hometown ties between voters and candidates have the capacity to drive voters to the polls. We partnered with a national party organization to conduct a similar, partisan experiment in the November 2014 general election for the Pennsylvania state senate. We find localism cues can stimulate voting in elections, including in neighboring communities that lie beyond the towns and counties in which the target candidate resided, at least among voters favorably disposed to a candidate and even when voters reside in the home county of the opponent.

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Objectives. This article investigates the impact of racial politics on White House visits by professional sports teams. Given increasing political polarization and varying racial compositions of major sports leagues, we hypothesize increased visits and objections over time while the prevalence of nonwhite players in a league detrimentally affects visits with Republican presidents and objections to visiting with them. Methods. Utilizing an original data set, we employ binary logistic regression to examine White House visits and objections by champions of six major professional sports leagues between 1993 and 2019. Results. We find (1) increased visits and objections over time; (2) a negative relationship between a league's nonwhite composition and the likelihood of a White House visit; and (3) a positive relationship between a league's nonwhite composition and objections to visits with Republican presidents. Conclusions. This research provides a more nuanced understanding of how racial politics influences the relationship between the American presidency, society, and culture. The president's Chief of State role involves hosting public events including honoring championship sports teams at the White House. This activity dates to the Civil War era, providing a long-term connection between the athletic and political realms. During his presidency, Donald Trump demonstrated conflicting feelings toward this time-honored practice, even doing so within the span of a few days. On June 4, 2018, the president released a statement through the Office of the Press Secretary announcing that "the Philadelphia Eagles are unable to come to the White House with their full team to be celebrated tomorrow." The statement asserted that "they disagree with their President because he insists that they proudly stand for the National Anthem, hand on heart, in honor of the great men and women of our military and the people of our country." Finally, the president said that "the Eagles wanted to send a smaller delegation, but the 1,000 fans planning to attend the event deserve better." In response, former Eagles wide receiver Torrey Smith tweeted, "There are a lot of people on the team that have plenty of different views. The men and women that wanted to go should've been able to go. It's a cowardly act to cancel the celebration because the majority of the people don't want to see you. To make it about the anthem is foolish." Four days later, however, Trump expressed support for another sports team. On June 8, 2018, the president tweeted, "Congratulations to the Washington Capitals on their GREAT play and winning the Stanley Cup Championship…D.C. is popping, in many ways. What a time!" While Trump's statements certainly express varying personal