The Midterm Elections

Geoff Layman (Notre Dame)

Geoff Layman is the Joseph and Elizabeth Robbie Professor and Chair of Political Science at the University of Notre Dame and a faculty fellow in the Ansari Institute for Global Engagement with Religion. Layman earned his BA at Virginia Tech and his MA and PhD at Indiana University. His research focuses on political behavior, political parties, and religion and politics, with a particular emphasis on long-term changes in political parties and their electoral coalitions. Layman’s most recent book (with David Campbell and John Green) is Secular Surge: A New Fault Line in American Politics (2021). He is also the author of The Great Divide: Religious and Cultural Conflict in American Party Politics (2001) and has published numerous articles in the discipline’s leading journals. Notable recent papers authored or co-authored by Layman include: “Secularism and American Political Behavior” (Public Opinion Quarterly, 2021), and “Political Parties and Loser’s Consent in American Politics” (The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 2023).

Michael Wear (Center for Christianity and Public Life)

Michael Wear is the Founder, President, and CEO of the Center for Christianity and Public Life, a nonpartisan, nonprofit institution based in Washington, D.C., with the mission to contend for the credibility of Christian resources in public life, for the public good. Previously, he led Public Square Strategies, a consulting firm he founded that helps religious organizations, political organizations, businesses, and others effectively navigate the rapidly changing American religious and political landscape. Wear earned his BA in political science from George Washington University. In 2008, he was appointed by US President Barack Obama to the Office of Faith-based and Neighbourhood Partnerships. Later, he directed faith outreach for the president’s 2012 re-election campaign. As a Christian in government, he led evangelical outreach and helped manage the White House’s engagement on religious and values issues, including abortion and anti-human trafficking efforts. Wear is the author of The Spirit of Our Politics: Spiritual Formation and the Renovation of Public Life (2024) and Reclaiming Hope: Lessons Learned in the Obama White House About the Future of Faith in America (2017). He has co-authored, or contributed to, several other books, including Compassion and Conviction: The AND Campaign’s Guide to Faithful Civic Engagement, with Justin Giboney and Chris Butler (2020). He also writes for The Atlantic, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Catapult Magazine, Christianity Today, and other publications.