In the News: Grant Reeher

"The more moderate Democrats are recalculating, thinking they have to get on board with this [President Trump's impeachment] or face primaries" from left-leaning insurgents, says Professor of Political Science Grant Reeher. "The facts have also changed" since the Russia investigation, he adds.

"Obama can say things that will be heard differently from the Democratic candidates for president," says Professor Grant Reeher. "He has the role of former president and that de facto gives you a statesmanlike role. And he fills that role in the way he expresses himself."

Grant Reeher, professor of political science and director of the Campbell Public Affairs Institute, says that Governor Cuomo's signing of new legislation that allows Congressional committees to acquire President Trump's New York tax filings "represents a new escalation in the level of political polarization that we're seeing."

According to Grant Reeher, professor of political science and director of the Campbell Public Affairs Institute, it can be difficult to measure how much a lawmaker worked behind the scenes to advance legislation, because the paper trail isn’t always clear.

"It sets up an incentive for candidates to get some attention by throwing out something that will get the media’s attention,” Professor of Political Science Grant Reeher says about the crowded Democratic field. 

Grant Reeher, professor of political science and director of the Campbell Public Affairs Institute, says that while too crowded a field leads to a lack of meaningful conversation, restricting the debate stage too extensively is also not ideal because it creates "a self-fulfilling prophecy" in which dark horse candidates never get the chance to emerge.

“He is deeply dug in on this,” said Grant Reeher, professor of political science, about President Trump's immigration policy. “There are things that candidates and office-holders are particularly known for and they stake their identities on. He is clearly one of them, on this issue.”

Grant Reeher discusses the state politics behind abortion access in the TIme article, "Trump Keeps Talking About Second-Trimester Abortions. Here's What He Gets Wrong." As efforts heat up to ban abortion on a national level, blue states are looking to strengthen their abortion laws, while red states are attemtping to dismantle them. Reeher says these restrive efforts are meant "to be tested in courts."

"The longer the Democrats stay on this [Julian Assange's extradition], the more it’s helping the president [Donald Trump]," says Grant Reeher, professor of political science and director of the Campbell Public Affairs Institute.

On presidential candidate John Delaney's suggestion that if elected, he would debate Congress four times a year, Professor Grant Reeher opines: "I can see that this is an effort to change the political culture by requiring direct engagement, but the participants have to agree to take the exercise at face value, in front of TV cameras, and the political disincentives against doing that right now are strong."

“The UPA program in Washington is a great two-way learning experience,” said Grant Reeher, professor of political science and director of the Campbell Public Affairs Institute. “I easily learn as much from the participants as they glean from me.”

 "When you put out things that people can get behind, you also put out things that people can criticize," says Grant Reeher, professor of political science and director of the Campbell Public Affairs Institute, about Senator Warren's campaign strategy to release detailed policy positions early on in the primary cycle.

"It’s a discussion between some of the Democrats who may have a better sense of strategic thinking about the election and the ones who think there are good reasons to be going forward with impeachment, [for whom] it’s the principle of the thing," says Grant Reeher, professor of political science and director of the Campbell Public Affairs Institute.

"There still isn’t clarity on what is the best way for the Democratic Party to position itself to face Republicans generally and Donald Trump specifically," says Professor of Political Science Grant Reeher, adding that there are good arguments to be made on both sides. "I still don’t think it’s clear. And Bloomberg himself is unclear."