Ellie Waltman, Managing Editor
Faculty in VCU’s Department of Political Science held a post-election panel, “What Happened? An Analysis of the Results of the Midterm Elections,” to examine the midterm results and what they mean for the country’s future, according to a post on their Instagram.
The panel, which featured associate professors Alex Keena and Alexandria Davis, professor John Aughenbaugh and assistant professor John Froitzheim, took place on Nov. 5. They discussed an increase in voter turnout and how previous political decisions, such as gerrymandering, aided the Democrats regaining control of the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate in the 2026 midterm elections.
Voter turnout and shifts
Voter turnout increased dramatically in the 2026 midterm elections in comparison to the midterm election in 2022, according to Davis.
“We saw astronomical voter turnout that was largely outpacing what we saw in 2022,” Davis said. “We saw about a 69% increase in early voting in our state between 2022 and 2026.”
Davis said that Gen Z not only voted in larger numbers than in 2024, but played a major role in the overall shift towards the left.
“We are largely characterized as a non-participatory group but we showed up and showed out Democratic with about 33 points,” Davis said. “We can note that younger voters were more likely than other groups to identify that their vote was against Trump.”
The effects of gerrymandering on the election’s outcome
Republican efforts and passing of gerrymandered state maps aided the Democrats in the election, according to Keena.
“In order to pack more Republicans into this map, they had to dissolve the protection that their incumbents had,” Keena said. “Democrats are doing far better than they would had the Republicans never gerrymandered at all.”
Keena said that this is an important lesson and shows why gerrymandering is not only wrong, but foolish.
“Florida had a very efficient gerrymander before 2025, and that probably would’ve kept Democrats winning fewer districts. But then Ron DeSantis is like, no, we’re gonna do this,” Keena said. “He gerrymandered and it backfired, the reality does not match expectations.”
Texas’s attempts to help Republicans gain five extra seats by gerrymandering backfired following the Democratic candidate winning the Senate seat by 20 points, according to Keena.
Federal courts
Aughenbaugh discussed how the federal courts will see little to no changes due to previous remarks by former President Joe Biden and how that affects any upcoming changes in 2027.
“President Biden indicated that even if Congress passed the legislation, he would not sign it because he didn’t want to give the next president the opportunity to fill 100 new federal judgeships,” Aughenbaugh said. “What you’re probably going to see is next to no activity in regards to filling vacancies on the federal courts, this is particularly important in regards to the United States Supreme Court.”
Democratic backsliding
Froitzheim said that democratic backsliding, the gradual state-led weaking of political instituions and norms that sustains democracy, is more of a short-term issue rather than long-term.
“Two years ago, I was worried about what was gonna happen. My argument was that I was largely hopeful in the long term, largely because Americans are democratic,” Froitzheim said. “Our democracy is deeply embraced by our culture and our society and our values, and it’s really hard to take that away.”
Even societies that have suffered from democratic backsliding are able to recover democratically over time, according to Froitzheim.
“Even a society that may suffer democratic reversals is likely to have democratic recovery over the long term,” Froitzheim said. “Democracy survives for now.”
Ella Milton-Benoit helped contribute to this article.