The Democrats maintain control of the U.S.  Senate, and the House is up for grabs.  While a handful of congressional races yet to be determined, the Republicans have a slight edge to take control of the house.  But the results of last week’s mid-term election was not the overall victory that both the Republican and Democratic parties were promising before the election.   While the Republican statewide candidates had sound victories in the election last week.  Ohio Northern Political professor Rob Alexander says that the November 8^th election was more about Donald Trump than Joe Biden and the economy when it came to bringing out voters.

A professor from Ohio Northern University will write a five article opinion series on the electoral college. Robert Alexander is a political science professor at Ohio Northern University, and is also the founding director of the Institute for Civics and Public Policy.

While COVID-19 has curtailed some campaigning for the two leading candidates, both President Donald Trump and Joe Biden are expected to make their voices heard in the homestretch of the election. Up to this point, Biden has adopted a front porch campaign approach, talking to voters online, while the president has held a few campaign rallies across the country.   Despite everything that is going on in the United States, political experts don't expect President Trump to deviate from what got him elected in 2016. 

The ruling means states can enforce electors to cast their votes for candidates they promised to support. In other words, they have to vote based on what the state law is. 33 states and Washington D.C. have laws requiring electors to vote for their party candidate but half of them don't have a penalty. An Ohio Northern University professor whose research helped find a resolution says this stems from an unprecedented 2016 election. Ten electors voted unfaithful to their pledge. Ultimately, states allow unfaithful electors could cause a shakeup to the presidential election.

Back on May 13th, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in a case involving faithless electors in the Electoral College, and if they are bound by their state's law to vote for the candidate who has the popular will of that state, or if electors can vote independently.

Super Tuesday was this week, and we asked one Ohio Northern University professor about how results from today could shape the race for the Democratic presidential candidate spot. Rob Alexander, a professor of political science, says that Super Tuesday is a delegate-rich day for the Democrats. While Bernie Sanders is still a frontrunner in the race, Joe Biden has been making a comeback over the last few weeks and could still win quite a few delegates after Tuesday.

After the first primary and caucus, political science professor Rob Alexander reflects on how the Democratic field is shaping up. Alexander of Ohio Northern University said Bernie Sanders and Pete Buttigieg have done well early. He said he finds it interesting that Elizabeth Warren hasn't gained any steam, Joe Biden finished fourth and fifth in those polls and Amy Klobuchar has done better than expected. The next big tests are the Nevada Caucus and South Carolina Primary, which Alexander said are big tests, specifically for Biden and Warren. What's keeping things interesting is the proportional representation the party is using.

Eyes turned to Capitol Hill on Wednesday as former special counsel Robert Mueller appeared in front of members of Congress. Mueller testified to both Democrats and Republics about his report that determined Russia interfered with the 2016 election but President Trump was not involved. Local political expert Rob Alexander weighed in on the hearings saying we didn't actually learn many new things. Mueller declined to comment on many questions, rarely straying from his report. Alexander does see this hearing as a boost for both parties heading into 2020 elections.

Would you be in favor of a new method of electing the president? Legislation to possibly change that is moving through Ohio right now. A proposed constitutional amendment would bypass the electoral college and give Ohio's electoral college votes to the candidate who won the national popular vote. The ballot language summary has been certified and awaits approval from the Ohio Ballot Board before the group backing the legislation would collect signatures to get it on the ballot.