At this member-exclusive webinar, political science fellow Mark Jones provided an overview of the state of play in a range of electoral contests with less than a week to go until Election Day. These included the presidential election, the dozen races most relevant for control of the U.S. Senate and the dozen competitive U.S. House races in Texas. Jones also examined the 20 races that will determine which party controls the Texas House of Representatives. This is consequential for the redistricting of the 38 or 39 U.S. House seats Texas will receive in the 2021 reapportionment.
Roundtable Dialogues are informal, member-exclusive discussions with Baker Institute experts on current events, politics and policy. These thought-provoking conversations provide insights into issues that affect Houston, the state and the nation.
If you are interested in attending future dialogues, please contact our development office at roundtable@rice.edu or 713.348.4945 for information on becoming a Roundtable member or renewing your membership.
Agenda
10:00 a.m. — Presentation
10:30 a.m. — Q&A
Registration
This webinar was free and open to members of the Baker Institute Roundtable with the link included in their email invitation.
Featured Speaker
Mark P. Jones, Ph.D., is the fellow in political science at the Baker Institute, the Joseph D. Jamail Chair in Latin American Studies and a professor in the Department of Political Science at Rice University. Jones also serves as the faculty director of Rice’s Master of Global Affairs program. His research focuses on the effect of electoral laws and other political institutions on governance, representation and voting. He has received substantial financial support for this research, including grants from the National Science Foundation. His research has been published in journals such as the American Journal of Political Science, Electoral Studies and the Journal of Politics, as well as in edited volumes published by Cambridge University Press, Oxford University Press and Penn State University Press, among others. He is a frequent contributor to Texas media outlets, and his research on the Texas Legislature has been widely cited in the media as well as by numerous political campaigns. Jones regularly advises U.S. government institutions on economic and political affairs in Argentina and has conducted research on public policy issues in Latin America and Texas for numerous international, national and local organizations, including the Inter-American Development Bank, the United Nations Development Programme, the U.S. Department of Defense, the Texas Department of Agriculture and the city of Houston. He is a frequent commentator in local, state, national and international media on government, politics and public policy. He is currently working on two principal research agendas, one that examines the impact of political institutions on politics and public policy in Latin America, and the other that analyzes the evolution of partisan politics in Texas over the past 50 years. Jones received his doctorate from the University of Michigan and his bachelor’s degree from Tulane University. Jones leads the Baker Institute's Argentina Program and helps direct the Presidential Elections Program.
