Elections 2026 Press Kit

Northwestern University scholars in a range of disciplines are available to discuss 2026 Midterm election topics including redistricting and voting access, voter behavior, campaign spending and strategy, election law, misinformation and polarization.

Connect with them directly using the contact information below or reach out to media relations for assistance.

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Northwestern Experts

Political science

Experts

Tabitha Bonilla

Politics, institutions and public policy expert

Associate Professor, Political Science and Faculty Fellow, Institute for Policy Research

tabitha.bonilla@northwestern.edu

Campaign promises
Political messaging
Political representation
Voting behavior

Jaime Dominguez

Urban politics, race, ethnic and Latino and Chicago politics expert

Associate Professor of Instruction, Political Science

Race and ethnicity
Immigration
Urban politics
Latino politics
Chicago politics

Laurel Harbridge-Yong

Campaign and elections expert

Professor and Associate Chair, Department of Political Science
Faculty Fellow and Associate Director, Institute for Policy Research

American politics
Impact of rising political violence
Political parties and partisan conflict
Congressional elections
Primary elections

Alexander Coppock

Campaign persuasion tactics

Associate Professor, Political Science and Faculty Fellow, Institute for Policy Research

Campaign persuasion tactics

Alvin B. Tillery Jr.

Politics & race relations expert

Professor of political science and African American studies
Director, Center for the Study of Diversity and Democracy

American politics
Race relations
Presidential leadership
Affirmative action and diversity politics

Stephen Nelson

Wealth in politics

Associate Professor

Comparative politics
International relations
International organizations
International law

Martin Naunov

Electability politics

Assistant Professor; Faculty Associate, Institute for Policy Research

Political communication
Political participation
Race, ethnicity and politics

Law

Experts

Jason DeSanto

Law, public advocacy and First Amendment expert

Distinguished Senior Lecturer, Pritzker School of Law

Campaign messaging
Debates
Speeches

Michael Kang

Campaign finance, voting rights, redistricting and judicial elections expert

Class of 1940 Professor of Law

Election law
Voting rights and redistricting
Campaign finance
Judicial elections

Paul Gowder

Constitutional law and rule of law expert

Frederic P. Vose Professor of Law

Constitutional law
Critical race theory
Political, moral and legal philosophy
Law and technology

Psychology of voters

Experts

William Brady

Social media and intergroup attitudes expert

Associate Professor of Management and Organizations, Kellogg School of Management

william.brady@kellogg.northwestern.edu

Researches how human psychology and digital social contexts interact to shape emotions and intergroup attitudes
Misinformation and how it exploits outrage online

Sally Nuamah

Race, gender, public institutions and political behavior expert

Associate Professor of Human Development and Social Policy, School of Education and Social Policy

Feminist and gender studies
Race, ethnicity and politics
Education policy
Political behavior

Jacob Teeny, PhD

Political persuasion, AI and polarization expert

Associate Professor of Marketing, Kellogg School of Management

jacob.teeny@kellogg.northwestern.edu

What makes political ads persuasive and how campaigns use AI to tailor them to individual voters
Why partisans dig in on hot-button issues and what actually changes minds
Why people avoid talking politics with the other side and how to make those conversations go better

Communication and Misinformation

Experts

Erik C. Nisbet

Elections and campaigns, voter behavior and misinformation expert

Professor of Communication Studies in the School of Communication and director of The Center for Communication and Public Policy

Voter Behavior & Public Opinion
Political Advertising
Campaign Strategy and Communications
Mis/Disinformation
Digital Media Strategies
Artificial Inteligence in Political Messaging

David Rapp

Misinformation and fake news expert

Professor of psychology and of learning sciences

Fake news and media literacy
Processing inaccurate information
Source credibility
Narrative and expository comprehension
Data visualization
Persuasion

Nathan Walter

Misinformation and fake news expert

Associate Professor of Communication Studies in the School of Communication, Director of the Center of Media Psychology and Social Influence (COM-PSI) at Northwestern

nathan.walter@northwestern.edu

Why misinformation sticks — and why corrections fail
Fact-checking: What works, what doesn’t, and for whom
Conspiracy theories and political polarization
How emotions fuel misinformation
Parasocial relationships: Influencers vs. experts

Yingdan Lu

Political communication, misinformation, and generative AI expert

Assistant Professor of Communication Studies in the School of Communication, Director of Computational Media and Politics Lab.

yingdan@northwestern.edu

Multimodal misinformation and disinformation
Generative AI and synthetic media
Influencers, fandom and political engagement
Credibility and persuasion

History

Experts

Michael Allen

Presidential and party politics expert

Associate professor of history

The realignment of U.S. party politics since WWII
20th century U.S. political and diplomatic history
Presidential politics

Kathleen Belew

Expert on political extremism and Christian nationalism

Associate Professor of History

Christian Nationalism
Gun violence/mass violence/school shootings
Political polarization and division
Extremism, political violence
Racism and inequality

Belew’s first book “Bring the War Home: The White Power Movement and Paramilitary America” established her as the foremost historian of the modern white power movement.

Kevin Boyle

Expert on American history since 1900

William Smith Mason Professor of American History

Race and politics in Chicago
Political violence
The civil rights movement
Economic and labor history

His most recent book is "The Shattering: America in the 1960s," a narrative history of the decade whose conflicts shattered America’s postwar order and divide us still.