Political Science Professor and Chair Thomas Schaller has been in the news recently analyzing the future of the Democratic Party in the South. In a Bloomberg Politics article examining how Democrats will rebuild after the recent midterm elections, Schaller discussed what could be next for party.

“The irony for me is that even I would say, at this point, there’s no place to go but up for the Democrats,” Schaller said. “There’ve been five federal cycles, and in every single count there’re fewer Democratic officials from the South in almost all of those elections.”

“Look at the Republicans,” Schaller added. “At one point they had three of 53 house seats in New York and New England. They got to near zero. And they’ve clawed back in Maine, New Hampshire, and New York. If Democrats have a landslide cycle, that might mean three new senators from the entire South. That would mean they doubled their Southern numbers in the Senate!”

Schaller was also mentioned in a Daily Beast article which discussed a similar topic, and his most recent column in the Baltimore Sun builds off of what he discussed in his first book Whistling Past Dixie in the context of the most recent midterm elections. To read full versions of the three articles, click below:

Can Democrats Ever Compete for the Deep South? Should They Even Bother? (Bloomberg)
Dems, It’s Time to Dump Dixie (Daily Beast)
Nowhere to go but up for Southern Democrats (Baltimore Sun column)

Tags: CAHSS, PoliticalScience