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On November 8th, American voters did something relatively remarkable for a midterm election. We now know that Democrats will keep the Senate (perhaps even expand it by a seat) and that Republicans will narrowly take the House. This is a massive underperformance for Republicans.

Along with a lot of other people, I’m interested in understanding what happened – and specifically, how the Dobbs decision and the abortion question might have influenced this election – if at all. So, my guest today is a former colleague of mine, Dr. Joshua Wilson – Professor and Chair of the Political Science Department at the University of Denver and Associate Editor of the Law & Policy academic journal. Dr. Wilson has written and published extensively about abortion politics – and other things – including the books The New States of Abortion Politics, The Street Politics of Abortion, and most recently, Separate but Faithful: The Christian Right’s Radical Struggle to Transform Law and Legal Culture with co-author Amanda Hollis-Brusky. His research has also been published in numerous academic journals and appeared in mass media outlets, such as Newsweek, Christian Science Monitor, Washington Post, and Politico – to name just a few. 

We talk about how anti-abortion activists manipulated the legal landscape on abortion issues over the decades in such a way that they primed an entirely new political debate and pursued strategies that culminated in the overturning of Roe. We talk about what this might look like moving forward, if the national Republican Party has an appetite for a nationwide abortion ban, and if the Dobbs decision cost Republicans what – by all accounts – should have been an overwhelming retaking of Congress. We also talk about the state of American politics and why Donald Trump leaving the political arena won’t solve the problem of political violence in the United States.

Mentioned:
Whole Women's Health v. Hellerstedt
June Medical Services LLC v. Russo
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