Parties, Politics, Polarization - Lessons from the US Midterm Elections 2022
16.11.2022, 06:00-08:00 pm | Festsaal of University of Bonn
In recent years, we have witnessed a profound realignment of American politics, which has been marked by changes in the ideologies of the two major parties, the issues dominating the public debate, voter structures, and electoral tactics. The concomitant political polarization reached a (first?) peak when angry protestors, believing the 2020 Presidential Elections to have been "stolen," stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021, to prevent the formal recognition of Joseph Biden’s victory. The heat of American politics has hardly cooled off since, the energy crisis and inflation further unsettling American voters this year. In this situation, elections to both the House of Representatives and a third of the Senate seats will take place on November 8, 2022. Moreover, several important gubernatorial elections will be held at the same time.
Sharing first-hand political experience and inside knowledge, former Representatives Ben McAdams (D-UT) and Martha Roby (R-AL) will discuss the US midterm elections with the audience. How can the election results be interpreted, and what do they mean for the remainder of Biden’s term and the next presidential election in two years?
Please join us to discuss these and other questions in an open panel on November 16, 2022, in which we will shed critical light on the election results and reflect on the current state of American democracy.
Schedule
Discussion:
Martha Roby
US Representative for the Second Congressional District of Alabama from 2011 to 2021 (Republican)
Ben McAdams
Member of the US House of Representatives, representing Utah's 4th Congressional District from 2019 to 2021 (Democrat).
Moderation:
PD Dr. Jasper Trautsch
Private Lecturer, University of Bonn
Further information
Joint event with AmerikaHaus NRW e.V., the North American Studies Programme of the University of Bonn, the Konrad Adenauer Foundation in cooperation with the US Association of Former Members of Congress.