In the second of Abraham Lincoln’s four terms in the Illinois legislature, he was dubbed a member of the “Long Nine,” a designation given to the nine legislators from Sangamon County who were all six feet or taller. That’s where we get our name, and Lincoln’s desk from when he served in the Illinois House of Representatives in Vandalia during this time is the centerpiece of our studio.

Our name has double meaning for our cigar and whiskey loving founder, Collin Corbett. A “long nine” cigar is a cheap cigar that was popular back in the 1800s. Its most famous advocate, Mark Twain, liked the cigars because, well, a 22-cigar-a-day habit isn’t cheap! Twain hilariously once used offering the foul smelling cigars to his dinner guests as a way to get them to all leave, a tactic our introverted extrovert founder is likely to try himself.

Not only is Lincoln an inspiration for our brand as Illinois’ most famous son, but as a founder of the Republican Party, Lincoln is a model for what a successful Republican leader looks like today. We need to get back to our roots. Voters are clamoring for “governing leaders,” public servants who get things done, regardless of ideology. The hard-working, bootstrapping people of this state don’t care about politics, they simply want their leaders to focus on kitchen table issues that make their lives better. Those are the “log cabin virtues” on which Lincoln founded our party.

That’s why we started Long9 Studio—to take our party back to its roots. Our mission is to equip center-right leaders like Lincoln who can lead us into the future. To accomplish this, we will teach Republicans how to win, equip them with information, and promote their successes, all while being entertaining.

The timing of our effort is not coincidental. Mark Twain said, “History does not repeat itself, but it does often rhyme.” One of Lincoln’s earliest published speeches, delivered to the Young Men’s Lyceum in Springfield in 1838 when he was still using our Lincoln Desk, was during a time of tremendous upheaval in the United States. Like today, too many were turning to violence to push their viewpoints. He cautioned the only way our nation would fall would be from within: “If destruction be our lot we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen we must live through all time or die by suicide.” Like in Lincoln’s time, today we are desperately in need of statesmen.