Making Sense of the US Midterms 2026
Speakers
Join us for an evening of conversation as leading experts of American politics discuss the November midterm election results and what they mean for Trump’s presidency and the United States.
Meet our speakers and chair
Fredrick C. Harris is the Class of 1933 Professor of Political Science and former Dean of Faculty in the Social Sciences at Columbia University. Professor Harris’s research interests are in American politics with a focus on race and politics, social movements, and African American Politics. His most recent books are The Price of the Ticket: Barack Obama and the Rise and Decline of Black Politics (Oxford University Press, 2012), and, with Robert Lieberman, Beyond Discrimination: Racial Inequality in a Post-Racist Era (Russell Sage Foundation Press, 2013). The Price of the Ticket received the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award for Non-Fiction. Professor Harris is an elected fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and is the Visiting Winant Professor of American Government at the University of Oxford.
Desmond King FBA holds the Andrew W Mellon Statutory Chair of American Government at the University of Oxford and is an elected fellow of the American Philosophical Society, the National Academy of Sciences and he American Academy of Arts and Sciences. His many publications include “Governing by Decree” (PSQ 2026), “American Political Violence” (G&O 2025), “Kirk and the Cycle of American Violence” Financial Times 2025, The Changing Character of the American Right. 2 vols. (2026), and the co-authored studies Phantoms of a Beleaguered Republic (OUP 2021) and America’s New Racial Battle Lines: Protect or Repair (Chicago, 2024).
Laurel Rapp is Director of the US and North America Programme at Chatham House. She brings to this role nearly two decades of experience at the US Department of State, White House National Security Council, US Senate, and in non-profit organisations. Until 2025, she served as deputy director of the Secretary of State’s Policy Planning Staff responsible for US grand strategy. Previously, Laurel covered US policy towards the United Nations, Europe, and the Middle East in a range of assignments across the US government. Earlier, she was a researcher in Morocco focused on political participation. From 2025-2026, Laurel was a senior fellow in international and public affairs at Brown University’s Watson School in Providence, Rhode Island. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Brown University and a master’s in public policy from Harvard University.
Peter Trubowitz is Professor of International Relations, and Director of the Phelan US Centre at LSE and Associate Fellow at Chatham House, Royal Institute of International Affairs.
More about this event
LSE's Phelan United States Centre (@LSE_US) is a hub for global expertise, analysis and commentary on America.
Hashtag for this event: #LSEEvents
Follow the Phelan US Centre: Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter/X, YouTube, and Soundcloud.
Join our mailing list to receive news about Phelan US Centre events.
From time to time there are changes to event details so we strongly recommend that if you plan to attend this event you check back on this listing on the day of the event.
LSE holds a wide range of events, covering many of the most controversial issues of the day, and speakers at our events may express views that cause offence. The views expressed by speakers at LSE events do not reflect the position or views of the London School of Economics and Political Science.