UC political science experts explain implications of Midterm elections

Political science faculty at the University of Cincinnati played a vital role this week in helping national and local media make sense of the Midterm elections.

UC College of Arts and Sciences Professor David Niven shared his expertise with the New York Times, Newsweek, Yahoo! News and Ohio news outlets as votes rolled in Tuesday and candidates took stock of the results Wednesday.

Niven is a professor in UC's School of Public and International Affairs.

“If we’re still talking about the affordability of life, if we’re still talking about the affordability of housing, that does put Ohio back into the conversation,” Niven told the New York Times.

Niven told Newsweek that polls showed Ohio was likely to see a political shakeup and that was borne out Tuesday with the election of Democrats Amy Acton to governor and Sherrod Brown to the U.S. Senate. 

“If Ohioans vote economics, this is a very competitive state,” he told Newsweek, pointing to Ohio’s mix of manufacturing, farming and major corporations.

Niven and UC Associate Professor Stephen Mockabee also provided live analysis to Ohio and Greater Cincinnati news outlets.

At the Ohio Statehouse, Republicans maintained their majority. Niven told the Ohio Capital Journal this could set up some tough debates on issues such as school vouchers.

“Even though Republicans will maintain a majority, they’ve lost their ‘we can do anything we want’ majority,” he told the Capital Journal.

Niven told the Columbus Dispatch that lawmakers in Ohio were likely to try to hamstring the authority of the office between now and when Acton takes the oath in January.

“I think there will be an absolute assault on the powers of the governor's office in the waning days of this legislative session,“ Niven told the Columbus Dispatch. “It will be action-packed.“

Featured image at top: News outlets turned to UC's School of Public and International Affairs for expert analysis of the election. Photo/iStockPhoto