Ronald Brownstein: After the 2022 Midterms, What’s Next?

Conversations with Bill Kristol

What happened in the midterms? What can explain why the 2022 midterm elections defied expectations and countered the trends of recent history? Will Trump be challenged successfully for the Republican nomination? Will Biden run again?
To discuss these and other questions, we are joined by Ronald Brownstein, Senior Editor of The Atlantic. In a Conversation after the 2020 elections, Brownstein noted how evenly divided and deeply entrenched the American political landscape had become. Summing up the 2022 midterms, Brownstein argues there has been surprisingly little change in the electorate since 2020, and moreover the country continues to trend toward fewer swing states. Yet strong opposition to Trump and the Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade allowed the Democratic coalition to perform better than expected in midterms. What comes next? Brownstein and Kristol discuss what the data from Tuesday suggest, and what this means for our politics as we look towards 2024.