Skip to main content

LSE is open and running as normal following Microsoft global worldwide outage

The Microsoft outage is impacting global systems. At LSE, this may be affecting daily tools that staff and students use such as email, Copilot, Excel and others. Staff can use Teams to contact others. LSE is open and running as normal, but responses to queries maybe slower than usual today. For staff and students, updates will be available on LSE’s DTS Service Portal

- check for the latest information.

Making sense of the US midterms 2026

On the 4th of November 2026 the LSE Phelan US Centre hosted the event Making sense of the US midterms 2026.
On the 4th of November 2026 the LSE Phelan US Centre hosted the event Making sense of the US midterms 2026.
Monday 9 November 2026 | 1 hour 35 minutes 32 seconds
Listen on SoundCloudDownload File | 131.22MB

On the 4th of November 2026 the LSE Phelan US Centre hosted the event Making sense of the US midterms 2026.

In this event, leading experts of American politics discussed the November 2026 midterm election results and what they might mean for Trump’s presidency and the United States.

The event featured Professor Fredrick C. Harris (Columbia University), Professor Desmond King (University of Oxford), Laurel Rapp (Chatham House), and Professor Stephanie Rickard (LSE). The event was chaired by Professor Peter Trubowitz (LSE).

About the speakers and chair

Fredrick C. Harris is the Class of 1933 Professor of Political Science and former Dean of Faculty in the Social Sciences at Columbia University. Professor Harris’s research interests are in American politics with a focus on race and politics, social movements, and African American Politics. His most recent books are The Price of the Ticket: Barack Obama and the Rise and Decline of Black Politics (Oxford University Press, 2012), and, with Robert Lieberman, Beyond Discrimination: Racial Inequality in a Post-Racist Era (Russell Sage Foundation Press, 2013). The Price of the Ticket received the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award for Non-Fiction. Professor Harris is an elected fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and is the Visiting Winant Professor of American Government at the University of Oxford.

Desmond King FBA holds the Andrew W Mellon Statutory Chair of American Government at the University of Oxford and is an elected fellow of the American Philosophical Society, the National Academy of Sciences and he American Academy of Arts and Sciences. His many publications include "Governing by Decree" (PSQ 2026), "American Political Violence" (G&O 2025), "Kirk and the Cycle of American Violence" Financial Times 2025, The Changing Character of the American Right. 2 vols. (2026), and the co-authored studies Phantoms of a Beleaguered Republic (OUP 2021) and America’s New Racial Battle Lines: Protect or Repair (Chicago, 2024).

Laurel Rapp is Director of the US and North America Programme at Chatham House. She brings to this role nearly two decades of experience at the US Department of State, White House National Security Council, US Senate, and in non-profit organisations. Until 2025, she served as deputy director of the Secretary of State’s Policy Planning Staff responsible for US grand strategy. Previously, Laurel covered US policy towards the United Nations, Europe, and the Middle East in a range of assignments across the US government. Earlier, she was a researcher in Morocco focused on political participation. From 2025-2026, Laurel was a senior fellow in international and public affairs at Brown University’s Watson School in Providence, Rhode Island. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Brown University and a master’s in public policy from Harvard University.

Stephanie J Rickard is Professor of Political Science in the Department of Government at LSE. For over fifteen years, she has researched issues related to the international political economy, including trade agreements and international financial rescues. In her award-winning book, Spending to Win, Rickard investigates how economic geography influences countries' economic policies and international economic relations.

Peter Trubowitz is Professor of International Relations, and Director of the Phelan US Centre at LSE and Associate Fellow at Chatham House, Royal Institute of International Affairs.

This event recording was produced by Chris Gilson and Avan Fata.