The Keys to the White House is a system that uses 13 true/false criteria to predict whether the presidential candidate of the incumbent party will win or lose the next election.

[15] In 2024, he produced a video with The New York Times reenacting running at a masters athletics meet while explaining his U.S. presidential prediction methodology.

[18] Lichtman announced his candidacy for the Democratic nomination for United States Senate from Maryland in the 2006 election to replace Senator Paul Sarbanes; in a playful opening television ad, he pledged not to be a "conventional politician" and jumped into the C&O Canal in a business suit.

[20] When the League of Women Voters did not invite Lichtman to the Maryland Public Television debate, he and two other excluded candidates, Josh Rales and Dennis F. Rasmussen, protested outside the Baltimore County television studio; Lichtman and his wife were arrested after a confrontation with a security guard.

[24][25][26] During the 2000 election, Lichtman assisted the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights investigation into voting irregularities in Florida,[27] submitting his statistical analysis of balloting problems.

[28] In 2013, Lichtman and Richard Breitman wrote FDR and the Jews, which portrays Franklin D. Roosevelt as a pragmatic leader who, despite political constraints, made significant effort to aid Jews during World War II, balancing domestic priorities and the fear of antisemitic backlash.

[9][10][11][31] The Financial Times gave it a favorable review, writing: "Lichtman's powerful book is a reminder that we are only at the start of the Trump investigations.

"[33] CBC News consulted law scholars who said Lichtman's prediction of impeachment was unlikely with a Republican-controlled House of Representatives.

After the 2000 election, Lichtman argued that as his keys predicted the winner of the popular vote (which Gore won), they were successful.

[42] But in journal articles containing his prediction for 2000 written beforehand, Lichtman wrote that the American people would "elect Al Gore president of the United States".

Lichtman claimed (after the 2016 election) that since the contested result in 2000, he began predicting the outcome of the Electoral College rather than the popular vote.

[49] In the run-up to the 2024 presidential election, amid widening calls by Democratic Party representatives, members, voters, and supporters of President Joe Biden to withdraw from the race in favor of another candidate with "better chances",[51][52] Lichtman called that demand a "foolish, destructive escapade", accusing "pundits and the media" of "pushing" Democrats into a losing choice.

[56] Lichtman later claimed that several unprecedented features affected the 2024 election, including the "Democrats... openly and viciously trashing their sitting president right out in public".

Most notably, he was named Distinguished Professor of History in 2011 and Outstanding Scholar/Teacher for 1992–93, the highest faculty award at the school.