Experts in the News | Miller Center

A presidential election during the time of Covid-19

The 2020 presidential election has provided Americans with one of the wildest political roller-coaster rides in 20 years. Predicted to be a blowout, a winner wasn’t announced until four days after Election Day as Americans waited for the votes to be counted. Even now, contestants on both sides anticipate a court battle before the results are finalized. At this year's annual conference, the Baker Institute’s Presidential Elections Program hosted political experts from around the country to examine the lead-up to the elections and the ramifications of the aftermath during a three-day program.

Michael Nelson

Insight into the Biden foreign policy agenda from a key player

Avril Haines, who would become the first woman to be named director of national intelligence, co-chaired with Eric S. Edelman, the former U.S. ambassador to Turkey, a bipartisan foreign policy task force which issued a meaty report, “Linking Values and Strategy: How Democracies Can Offset Autocratic Advances,” in October. The report provided some insight into her thinking and, by extension, President-elect Joe Biden’s. She has also headed the transition’s national security and foreign policy team since June, so the views expressed are likely to align closely with Biden’s outlook.

Eric Edelman

Presidential transitions: 4 tips for improving news coverage from scholar Barbara A. Perry

“All U.S. presidents, whether reaching the two-term limit (set by George Washington’s precedent and then by constitutional amendment) or defeated for reelection, have left office peaceably and often with an offer to assist the incoming president in the smooth transference of power,” writes Barbara A. Perry, director of presidential studies at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center, on a university blog.

Barbara Perry

Rudy Giuliani took a road trip to push claims of election fraud. He was rebuffed

Barbara Perry, a presidential historian at the University of Virginia's Miller Center, told USA TODAY appearances in battleground states were “unprecedented” and were just “another opportunity [for Trump] to cast unfounded aspersions on the election process."

Barbara Perry

Can Tech Companies and Local Governments Mitigate Abuses of Government Secrecy?

The 2020 election brought into sharp relief the critical role that technology companies and local governments play in securing elections and minimizing disinformation about voting. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s (CISA’s) #Protect2020 Strategic Plan recognized that state and local election officials “are on the front lines” of election security, and it identified media and social media companies as key partners.

Ashley Deeks

Social Issues

A culture for American democracy

The raw emotion of American politics and culture were in full view, requiring us to ask: Do we have enough in common to build a multicultural democracy?

Democracy: A Journal of Ideas