Join us Wednesday, October 9, at 5 pm, for a panel discussion entitled “Left, Right, & Center: American Political Parties & the Electorate.” Skidmore Political Science Professors Ron Seyb and Natalie Taylor will talk with Ruy Teixeira, co-author of Where Have All the Democrats Gone?: the Soul of the Party in an Age of Extremes, and Matthew Continetti, author of The Right: the Hundred Year War for American Conservatism, about the shifting composition of the two political parties, the rising number of independent voters, and the implications for the future of American politics.

This event is sponsored by the Department of Political Science, the Tang Teaching Museum, the offices of the Dean of Faculty and the President.

This event is part of Establish, Insure, Provide, Promote: Election 2024.

About the Speakers

Matthew Continetti is the director of domestic policy studies and the inaugural Patrick and Charlene Neal Chair in American Prosperity at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), where his work is focused on American political thought and history, with a particular focus on the development of the Republican Party and the American conservative movement in the 20th century. A prominent journalist, analyst, author, and intellectual historian of the right, Continetti was the founding editor and the editor in chief of the Washington Free Beacon. Previously, he was opinion editor at the Weekly Standard.

Ruy Teixeira is a nonresident senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), where he focuses on the transformation of party coalitions and the future of American electoral politics. Before joining AEI, he was a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress from 2003 to 2022. A political demographer and commentator, Dr. Teixeira is the author of numerous books, reports, and articles. He is the coauthor of The Emerging Democratic Majority (Scribner, 2002), one of his most influential books, which was selected as one of the best books of the year by the Economist. He is also the coauthor of a series of reports titled “States of Change,” which detail the impact of demographic changes on political parties, the electorate, and the nation as a whole. His most recent book is Where Have All the Democrats Gone? The Soul of the Party in the Age of Extremes (Henry Holt & Company, 2023).