Democracy has never covered the day-to-day news cycles (though we certainly follow them); our strengths have always lay elsewhere. But in this unprecedented election, with the first female nominee of a major political party, and the first . . . well, whatever Donald Trump is, we felt compelled to cover it. But in a Democracy way. Because there’s another campaign going on below the tweets, on real issues, ones of policy, economics, gender and racial equality, and more.

And it’s more important than the day-to-day drum of scandal, response, scandal, response. Some of these are issues voters aren’t paying attention to but should be: the federal courts, for instance. Others, like the pool of working-class feminists that can be drawn on for support, are areas the candidates themselves are missing. Democracy went outside the usual pool of pundits for analysis from historians, legal scholars, political scientists, and more, to ask: What forces are affecting this election, and what parts of government may be affected by it that we’re not thinking of? Read on to find out.