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Experts: President’s influence could be seen all over midterms

Political science professors offer their takes on this year’s election at WSU discussion.

There is no denying the midterm elections were heavily influenced by President Donald Trump, and while Democrats earned victories, the night ended better than Republicans feared, political experts said during a forum Wednesday at Washington State University.

Travis Ridout.
Ridout
Mark Stephan.
Stephan

Mark Stephan and Travis Ridout, professors in the WSU School of Politics, Philosophy and Public Affairs, and John Wilkerson, a professor in the University of Washington Department of Political Science, gave their opinion on the midterms to a crowd of more than 50 in an event organized by The Foley Institute.

The panel of experts also noted it is typical for the president’s party to lose seats in the house during an election, so this year was not unusual in that regard.

Across the country, political divisions were solidified even more. Stephan said Minnesota is now the only state in the country where the Legislature is divided by Republicans and Democrats. All other statehouses are controlled by one party.

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Moscow-Pullman Daily News

Analysis: Why ‘a real race’ in Cathy McMorris Rodgers, Lisa Brown contest offered familiar November result

Ten million dollars, hours of television ads, truckloads of mailers and a handful of national news media stories later, Eastern Washington continues to be represented by Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers.

Republicans and political observers said Wednesday, after the dust settled, that the result shouldn’t have come as a surprise.

Brown had been the presumptive Democratic candidate for months, even before that primary showing. On paper, she seemed the perfect candidate to run against McMorris Rodgers, a long-serving incumbent with a lengthy legislative record that Brown and her supporters could pick apart, said Cornell Clayton, director of the Thomas S. Foley Institute of Public Policy at Washington State University.

“I was sort of surprised, but not too surprised. I think Lisa didn’t run the kind of campaign she needed to beat Cathy,” Clayton said of Tuesday’s results. “I think she needed to go after Cathy’s record more.”

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Spokesman-Review

McGill Redmen: U.S. scholar says name reinforces white settler society

Why do non-Indigenous sports teams steal the names and symbols of North America’s first peoples?

McGill University’s continued use of “Redmen” for its teams has many on campus grappling with that question. The name is considered an anti-Indigenous slur. When it emerged in the 1920s, the name Redmen was intended to describe the school’s signature colour, but many still find it offensive and point to McGill’s use of racist tropes over the years.

One expert says it is less about honouring Indigenous culture than reinforcing the view that white society has conquered First Nations.

“It’s the image of this historic Indian that white society defeated and bested and took his image as a trophy,” said Richard King, former Washington State University professor of ethnic and cultural studies. “It reinforces a vision of white settler society.”

King wrote the book Team Spirits: The Native American Mascot Controversy, and he’ll be speaking at McGill Thursday.

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Newscaf

$3M Templeton Foundation grant focuses on epigenetic biomarkers

Washington State University researchers have received nearly $3 million from the John Templeton Foundation, the second such grant in four years, to see if they can anticipate and prevent diseases by developing epigenetic biomarkers that could provide early stage diagnostics for disease susceptibility. Their approach would be a departure from traditional “reactionary medicine,” which treats diseases after they develop, as well as from diagnoses based on an individual’s genetic profile.

Michael Skinner portrait.
Michael Skinner

WSU biologist and professor Michael Skinner is the principal investigator on the grant and a leader in the field of epigenetics, which focuses on the molecular factors that regulate genome activity. Lawrence Holder, WSU professor of electrical engineering and computer science and co‑investigator, will collaborate with Skinner using machine learning to help develop predictive epigenetic biomarkers.

Skinner has repeatedly identified circumstances in which environmental factors have induced epigenetic activity, affecting health generations after an individual is exposed. His first multimillion-dollar grant from the Templeton Foundation in 2014 supported the investigation of environmental epigenetics as an additional causal factor for disease.

“Dr. Skinner’s research may contribute to more accurate prediction and interception of diseases before they develop, potentially leading to breakthroughs in preventative medicine and health care,” said WSU Vice President for Research Chris Keane. “His cutting-edge collaboration with Dr. Holder is among the many exceptional examples of interdisciplinary research occurring across WSU everyday.”

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WSU Insider

Opinion: Shawn Vestal: At long last, a great race in the 5th District

It was the campaign the 5th District voters deserved – the first great House race here in decades.

In almost every way, the contest between Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers and challenger Lisa Brown has been a more positive, more passionate and less cynical electoral exercise than our current moment would give us the right to expect.

Travis Ridout.
Travis Ridout

“We’re just not used to having a competitive race,” said Travis Ridout, the Thomas S. Foley Distinguished Professor of Politics and Public Policy at Washington State University. “There was some excitement that we haven’t seen in a long time.”

Ridout credits the congressional race as the primary driver of the incredible early returns this year. The ballot was stacked with important stuff this time around – from gun-control initiatives to legislative races to that ingenious but overly complicated package of city-school projects – but the congressional race, connecting directly as it did to the Trump effect, was the top of the ticket.

“I think it’s been good for the district to have a real race,” Ridout said. “It forced the incumbent to pay attention to the district in a way she hasn’t had to in the last five, six, seven elections.”

The race was less nasty, overall, than I expected. There was definitely some kidney-punching and truth-twisting, but I’d have predicted more aggressive nastiness six months ago. I asked Ridout if he shared that view and he said he thought it had been “a little less negative” than usual – and offered some reasons.

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Spokesman-Review