She said, “So, the way that our system of government works, Congress is essential in passing laws and legislation, and who wins Congress, is really going to determine what the president is able to do, regardless of which person wins the presidency, so the race for Congress is incredibly consequential for governing, moving forward.”
When asked which specific congressional races she is keeping a closer eye on, she said, “While a lot of folks are looking at the swing states for the presidential, I’m actually looking at coastal states for the congressional. So, I’m looking at New York and California; NY, in part because that’s where I live, but there are two really key races there: NY 19 and NY 16,and NY 19 is extremely competitive, but Biden won and there’s a Republican incumbent, and, similarly, NY 16, Biden also won, and the Republican congressional candidate there, Congressman Lawler, has really run a flawless campaign. And the Democrat in the race, Mondaire Jones, has not run what I would call a flawless campaign, so, given how competitive this is, if Jones manages to win, that will really tell us where the rest of the races are going.”
She also elaborated on if we could see a swap with who controls the presidency versus the US House and Senate, and what that would mean.
“This [election] is really, really close in all three branches, so we can have a situation where the president is of a different party than the House, which is rare, but it could happen this year, and that will really hamper the president’s ability to enact their agenda, and so, if that happens, we can expect that we will see very little progress in legislation because there will be so much gridlock.
We can make our firmest predictions about the US Senate. The US Senate seems poised to shift into Republican control, but the House is totally up for grabs, and it’s possible that whoever wins the presidency will be able to bring the Congress along.”
Associate Professor of Economics Veronika Dolar, PhD, wrote an op-ed in The Conversation on how soaring inflation helped lead to Trump's recent presidential election victory and why his policies might actually drive prices higher again.
Associate Professor of Environmental Studies and Science Michael Finewood, PhD, appeared on Fox Weather to discuss the environmental implications of New York’s drought.
Assistant Professor Mary Kaltenberg, PhD, discusses Pace’s new Computational Economics program, which merges economics and computer science to prepare students for data-focused careers. She also shares how her research on labor and innovation provides students hands-on experience with real-world economic questions—skills they present at professional conferences.