How Worried Should We Be About the Midterm Elections?
Summary
Sarah Isser interviews NYU law professor Rick Pildes to analyze the 2026 midterm election landscape amid rising democratic dissatisfaction. They discuss the Supreme Court’s recent 7-2 ruling blocking Trump’s executive order on mail-in ballot regulations, noting that the administration has failed in nearly all attempts to alter voting procedures. Pildes explains how the shift to primary elections and campaign finance reforms has fueled populism, while addressing the practical challenges of implementing proof-of-citizenship laws without a national ID. The conversation concludes with a look at…
Topics discussed
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Introduction: Restoring faith in elections
The era of democratic dissatisfaction
Global trends in distrust of democratic institutions
The shift to primary elections and populism
Campaign finance reform and small dollar donors
Transparency, cameras, and democratic trade-offs
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Trump's executive orders on mail-in voting
Postal Service rule and legal challenges
Supreme Court ruling and partisan dynamics of absentee voting
The Carter-Baker Commission and election fixes
Practical issues and fraud risks in absentee voting
Distrust, late counting, and ballot tracking
Citizenship proof and ID requirements for voting
Arizona's voting law and the SAVE Act debate
Scale of non-citizen voting vs. disenfranchisement
Surveillance technology and voter identification
Supreme Court credibility in a polarized culture
Legal blocks on Trump's election interference efforts
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Mid-decade redistricting and gerrymandering
Federal funding and mitigating election distrust
Contextualizing election anxiety and exaggeration
State-level gerrymandering constraints and national solutions
Potential federal interference and certification risks
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