Politics in Question Julia Azari, Lee Drutman, and James Wallner

In this week’s episode of Politics In Question, Rachel Porter joins Lee to consider the consequences of political amateurs in Congress. Porter is an Assistant Professor of Political Science. Her research interests include American political institutions and political methodology, with a particular focus on Congress, elite behavior, and methods for computational social science. Most recently, her work has sought to explore and explain the rising success of political amateurs in elections for the U.S. House of Representatives. Before coming to Notre Dame, she earned a Ph.D. in Political Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a B.A. in Political Science & International Affairs at the University of Georgia.

What is a political amateur? Why have the number of political amateurs in the House of Representatives increased since 2010? Is there a difference between Democratic and Republican amateurs? What role does experience play in governing? And what are the consequences of the decline in careerism for American self-government more broadly? These are some of the questions Rachel and Lee ask in this week’s episode.

In this week’s episode of Politics In Question, Jake Grumbach joins Lee and James to consider whether American democracy is in crisis. Grumbach is an associate professor at the Goldman School of Public Policy at UC Berkeley. He studies the political economy of the United States, with interests in democratic institutions, labor, federalism, racial and economic inequality, and statistical methods. And he is the author of Laboratories Against Democracy: How National Parties Transformed State Politics (Princeton University Press, 2022).

What is the state of American democracy? Are concerns that it is failing overblown? Or are they justified? What is the best standard to evaluate the quality of representation in the United States? How does that standard change based on the different types of democracy? These are some of the questions Jake, Lee, and James ask in this week’s episode.

In this week’s episode of Politics In Question, Congressman John Sarbanes, D-Md., joins Lee to talk about the health of American democracy. Sarbanes has represented Maryland’s third congressional district in the House of Representatives since 2007. He serves on the House Committee on Energy and Commerce and is chair of the Democracy Reform Task Force. Sarbanes was born and raised in Baltimore and has experience working in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors.

What does it mean to live in a democracy? What is the state of American democracy? Is it a flawed democracy? If so, what can be done to fix it? These are some of the questions Rep. Sarbanes and Lee ask in this week’s episode.

In this week’s episode of Politics In Question, Thomas Schaller and Paul Waldman join Lee and James to discuss the urban-rural divide in American politics. Schaller is a professor of political science at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Waldman is a journalist and author whose writing has appeared in numerous publications, including MSNBC. Their new book is White Rural Rage: The Threat to American Democracy (Random House, 2024).

Why is Mingo County, West Virginia important? How has the decline of political parties shaped America’s present rural-urban divide? What is rural America? Do rural white Americans all think the same thing? Are rural Americans unique in their frustration with the federal government? Or are people from all walks of life frustrated with their government? These are some of the questions Tom, Paul, Lee, and James ask – and argue about – in this week’s episode.

In this week’s episode of Politics In Question, Matt Glassman joins Lee and James to discuss the right way to do politics. Glassman is a senior fellow at the Government Affairs Institute at Georgetown University. Before that, he worked on congressional operations, separation of powers, appropriations process, agency design, and congressional history at the Congressional Research Service. He also served as professional staff on the Legislative Branch Subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee.

How do you do politics? What is the right way to do politics? Is there one right way? Does it vary between the White House and Congress? These are some of the questions Matt, Lee, and James ask in this week’s episode.

In this week's episode of Politics In Question, Lee and James ask Representative Chip Roy, R-Texas, if the House of Representatives is broken. Roy is a devoted husband and father of two, serving his third term in Congress representing Texas's 21st Congressional District. He serves on the House Judiciary, Rules, and Budget Committees and is the House Freedom Caucus Policy Chair. Roy previously served as First Assistant Attorney General of Texas under Ken Paxton, Chief of Staff to Sen. Ted Cruz, senior advisor to Texas Governor Rick Perry, Senate Judiciary Committee staff director under Sen. John Cornyn, and as a federal prosecutor. Prior to the public sector, he worked for nearly three years as an investment banking analyst. He holds a B.S. and M.A from the University of Virginia and a J.D. from the University of Texas.

Is the House broken? What does a functioning House look like? What do lawmakers need to fix it? How does the House's institutional dynamic make it harder to form cross-party coalitions? Are cross-party coalitions the solution to what ails the institution? What is the "uni-party" and how is it preventing the House from addressing America's problems? These are some of the questions that Roy, Lee, and James ask in this week's episode.