I really enjoyed Professor Altschuler’s discussion of the upcoming midterm elections. While I have been following the campaigns of some of the high profile candidates, I still did not really have a good understand of different candidates’ likelihood of winning and what accounted for that likelihood. Accordingly, I very much appreciated getting a quick lesson about the composition of the national electorate and its local distribution. What I could not help but think about as Professor Altschuler continually emphasized that the midterm elections are a referendum on Donald Trump was how this election is really going to hold up a mirror to the state of American democracy. While I am, of course, excited to see how America votes, I am equally, if not more, anxious to see whether America votes. For the last two years, Americans have found themselves in the middle of an intensely polarized period of political action. Both Republicans and Democrats have tirelessly sought to advance and defend their agendas, and both Republicans and Democrats have accomplished powerful political triumphs and suffered devastating political defeats. Moreover, from the Parkland shooting to the Kavanagh nomination, the general public has been glued to the coverage of the political debates surrounding these events. If they were not protesting and demonstrating, they were at least voicing their opinions to their family and friends. Indeed, Kavanagh came up nearly everywhere I went during the hearings, both at home and at school. What I am anxiously awaiting to find out from these elections, then, is whether these intense events that have drawn the nation into sharply polarized debate have spurred the nation to political action or left large swaths of the public so drained from the incessant domestic bickering that they do not have the energy to carefully consider candidates and get out to vote. What Professor Altschuler’s discussion made me consider is that these midterm elections are as much a reflection of how the nation is responding the tumultuous domestic climate as they are a reflection of how the nation is responding to Trump. As Professor Altschuler suggested in his closing remarks, I think that it is extremely important that people exercise their right to vote in this election and in doing so evidence not only their commitment to improving America’s future but also their faith in American democracy.