Two 19th-century elections are a reminder that a sizable midterm shift, like the one expected in November, can signal long-lasting changes in American politics that set the country in a new direction.
- Senior Fellow, Miller Center, University of Virginia
As the 2026 midterm elections edge closer, most people know the party that controls the White House is likely to lose seats in Congress. They usually do not know just how entrenched that pattern is.
There are lessons from history for today’s divided America. Political division in the second half of the 19th century produced more problems than solutions. But it did end − at the ballot box.
President George Washington warned in his 1796 Farewell Address about dangers that lay ahead for the US – warnings that seem startlingly contemporary and relevant 229 years later.
What does someone like me, who believes that the last presidential election was legitimately won by Joe Biden, say to those who think the 2020 election was stolen?
Right from the very beginning of the nation, there have been rules that limit the ability of the people to choose their leaders.
A three-month-long group conversation with some of the newest American voters yields insights both worrisome and promising.
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