#112: A Midterms Update

Politics and Polls

Uncertainty looms regarding next week’s midterm elections. In this episode, Julian Zelizer and Sam Wang consider the dynamics shaping the midterm elections and the potential implications with journalist Barry Yeoman and political scientist Danielle M. Thomsen. Yeoman discusses a judicial race in North Carolina that has significant implications for democracy and voting rights in the state. Thomsen speaks about the likely role that female candidates and women voters will play in November. Thomsen is an assistant professor of political science at the University of California, Irvine, and a visiting scholar at the Center for the Study of Democratic Politics, Princeton University, 2018-19. She is the author of the 2017 book, “Opting Out of Congress: Partisan Polarization and the Decline of Moderate Candidates.” Her research focuses on the kinds of candidates who run for Congress, how this has changed over time, and why this matters for partisan trends in Congress. Barry Yeoman is a journalist who “specializes in in-depth reporting that puts a human face on complex issues.” In addition to his work in print media, Yeoman has also made forays into documentary radio. His work has won numerous accolades, including an honor by the Columbia Journalism Review, which proclaimed him to be one of “the best unsung investigative journalists working in print in the United States.”