In this week’s episode of Politics In Question, Lee and James explore the role of the Senate and the dysfunction we see today with Sean Theriault. Theriault is a Professor at the Department of Government at the University of Texas, Austin and the author of Disruption?: The Senate During the Trump Era (Oxford University Press, 2024).

Do we need the Senate? What has caused gridlock in the Senate? What would the Senate look like during a second Trump term? These are some of the questions Sean, Lee, and James ask in this week’s episode.

In this week’s episode of Politics In Question, Lee and James explore America’s reliance on direct primaries in federal elections with Nick Troiano. Troiano is the Executive Director of Unite America and the author of The Primary Solution: Rescuing Our Democracy from the Fringes (Simon & Schuster, 2024).

What are direct primaries? Why do Americans rely on them? When did they first start using direct primaries in federal elections? And what are the consequences? These are some of the questions Nick, Lee, and James ask in this week’s episode.

In this week’s episode of Politics In Question, Lee discusses the history of primary elections and options for reform with Robert Boatright. Boatright is professor of political science at Clark University and the world’s leading expert on the American primary system. He is also the director of research for the National Institute of Civil Discourse at the University of Arizona. His most recent book is Reform and Retrenchment: A Century of Efforts to Fix Primary Elections (Oxford University Press, 2024).

Why did the United States become the only democracy in the world that gives its voters a decisive voice in candidate selection? When did Americans begin using primary elections to select a party’s candidates for office? What is the difference between open and closed primaries? How did primary elections change in the 1960s and 1970s? Did the Democratic and Republican parties sideline reformers and take over primary elections during that period? How do different factions within each party view primary reform? These are some of the questions Robert and Lee ask in this week’s episode.