This year’s mid-term election continues a pattern from the past few campaign cycles, most notably with North Carolina once again a crucial state in determining winners and losers at the national level. Control of the U.S. Senate hangs in the balance in the Tar Heel state, which has seen a dead-even split between the Democratic incumbent Kay Hagan and the Republican challenger Thom Tillis. But beyond the multi-million-dollar Senate slugfest, what other election possibilities might there be in the state and locally, and how could the election shape the next two years at the federal, state and local levels?

Dr. Michael Bitzer is professor of political science and history, and provost of Catawba College. He is a graduate of Erskine College with an M.A. in history from Clemson University and a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Georgia.  Bitzer joined the Catawba faculty in 2002. He also serves as an elections analyst for WSOC-TV and other Charlotte television and radio stations, and he is political columnist for WFAE’s “The Party Line” blog. He appears frequently on Charlotte Talks with Mike Collins. His teaching interests include American politics and law, and his research delves into campaigns and elections in North Carolina and the United States.  Bitzer has been quoted in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Christian Science Monitor, The Charlotte Observer, the Raleigh News & Observer and The Post & Courier in Charleston.

Bitzer has been watching this year’s political crystal ball and will review both the fundamentals and the oddities of this campaign season at the next Catawba College Community Forum on Tuesday, Oct. 21, at 7:30 p.m. in Tom Smith Auditorium of Ralph W. Ketner Hall. Admission is free.