Maxwell School News and Commentary

Maxwell professors Chris Faricy, Shana Gadarian, Jenn Jackson and Sean O'Keefe participated in the Campbell Lecture, “After the Election: Assessing the Midterms,” on Nov. 17. Grant Reeher, director of the Campbell Public Affairs Institute, moderated the discussion.

"This is the first time since Tiananmen that there have been national protests—they’re not really nation-wide, they’re in about 16 different provinces—about one issue," says Robert Daly, adjunct professor in the Maxwell-in-Washington program.

Grant Reeher, professor of political science says the bills sound like they make sense and they could not only help lower some of the expensive costs of incarceration, but also help with some social issues. “But politically, the timing of these things couldn’t be worse,” Reeher says.

Margaret Talev will be based in Washington, D.C., and report to Mark J. Lodato, dean of the Newhouse School. She will assume the position in January.

There is a "mismatch between policies about abortion and attitudes about abortion at the state level," Shana Gadarian, professor of political science, tells Axios.  While opinions around abortion are "relatively nuanced," even "Republican voters tend to be more pro-choice than the policies that we're seeing in Republican states," Gadarian adds.

“That seems to be what the outcome was—it was a non-outcome outcome. Maybe that’s not the worst thing in the world because I think we do need a presidential election year in which to try to establish some kind of direction on this,” Grant Reeher, professor of political science, tells CNN.

America's first third party, the Anti-Masonic Party, was founded on the conspiracy theory that an elite group of Freemasons were secretly controlling the U.S. government. Freemasonry continued to grow in the United States during the first two decades of the 19th century, in part because it was a good way for people who wanted to enter politics to network, says Mark Schmeller, associate professor of history.

“This is not the kind of thing that is done unilaterally by people in counties,” Ryan Griffiths, associate professor of political science, tells the New York Post. “They have to get the state of Oregon on board and the state of Idaho, and that’s a very high bar.”

“With new lines being drawn, it injects a lot of uncertainty into the race,” Chris Faricy, associate professor of political science, tells WAER. “With Katko not being on the ballot, we have two new candidates who have to introduce themselves to the voters of Central New York.”

If Republicans gain control of the House, the committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol—which recently issued a legal summons ordering Trump to testify—could be dismantled. "He'll claim that vindicates him," Grant Reeher, professor of political science, tells the BBC.