2018 Midterm Election Debrief: What Happened and What Does It Mean For the Future?

Join the University of Wisconsin Law Student Chapter of the American Constitution Society for a panel discussion examining the results of the 2018 mid-term elections in Wisconsin and nationally. A special emphasis will be placed on the ramifications of a "shared" government, where power between the branches at the state and federal levels are both split. Professors from both the UW Law School and the UW Political Science Department will make up our panel. Our confirmed speakers are Amanda Brink, David Canon and Barry Burden.

Amanda Brink is a political consultant and former campaign manager for Tony Evers, Wisconsin's governor-elect. 

David T. Canon is a professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota in 1987 and previously taught at Duke University. He is currently editor of the Election Law Journal and is affiliated with the Elections Research Center. His teaching and research interests are in American political institutions, especially Congress. He is author of Race, Redistricting, and Representation (University of Chicago Press, 1999, winner of the Richard Fenno award for the best book on legislative politics), The Dysfunctional Congress? The Individual Roots of an Institutional Dilemma (with Ken Mayer; 2nd ed. forthcoming with Columbia University Press), Actors, Athletes, and Astronauts: Political Amateurs in the U.S. Congress (University of Chicago Press, 1990), American Politics Today (with William Bianco,WW Norton, 6th ed., 2019), several edited books, and various articles and book chapters. He also served as the Congress editor for Legislative Studies Quarterly and was a Distinguished Fulbright Chair in Debrecen, Hungary, in 2003-2004 and in Tübingen, Germany, in 2011-2012. His most recent research concerns election administration and election reform (with a continued interest in redistricting). He teaches courses on American government with focus on Congress, race and politics, the president, and political parties and was the recipient of a University of Wisconsin Distinguished Teaching award.

Barry C. Burden is Professor of Political Science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is also Director of the Elections Research Center and is the Lyons Family Chair in Electoral Politics. His research and teaching are based in American politics, with an emphasis on electoral politics and representation. He is co-editor of The Measure of American Elections, author of Personal Roots of Representation, and co-author of Why Americans Split Their Tickets: Campaigns, Competition, and Divided Government. Burden has also published articles in the American Political Science Review, American Journal of Political Science, British Journal of Political Science, Legislative Studies Quarterly, Political Science Quarterly, and Electoral Studies. Burden is affiliated with the La Follette School of Public Affairs, the Center for Demography of Health and Aging, the Tommy G. Thompson Center on Public Leadership, the UW Survey Center, and the Election Administration Project.