According to Open Secrets, state and national political parties, political action committees and outside groups spent some 16.7 billion dollars on the 2022 elections, making them by far the most expensive midterms in history. Aside from a bonanza for political marketing agencies, commercial media outlets and internet and cell providers, all that spending produced little in terms of dramatic change. After the dust settled, the political balance in Washington shifted only slightly, with the GOP clinging to an 8-seat majority in the House of Representatives, and the Democrats retaining control of the U.S. Senate. Are there lessons still to be learned from the 2022 elections? Political scientist Barry Burden thinks so. Burden directs the University of Wisconsin Elections Research Center, which will hold a public, multi-disciplinary symposium on the 2022 elections on Friday, December 2nd. Barry Burden joined the Monday Buzz on November 28, 2022.
