Making Sense of the 2024 US Presidential Election

A guest post by Nancy Pelosi's former chief of staff

John Lawrence spent 38 years as a senior staffer in the U.S. House of Representatives and is the author of Arc of Power: Inside Nancy Pelosi’s Speakership 2005-2013 and The Class of ‘74: Congress after Watergate and the Roots of Partisanship. He was Chief of Staff to Speaker Nancy Pelosi and is now Visiting Professor at the University of California Washington Center. I asked him to give his view on how the US Presidential election is shaping up while also explaining some of the hurdles generated by the US electoral system. Few people are more qualified to offer this sort of analysis, and I am very happy to be able to share this with you all.

The complexities of electing an American president and Congress are as perplexing—and aggravating—to many voters within the United States as they are to those observing the process from overseas. Much of that confusion is attributable to the contradiction that runs through the design and operation of American government from its founding in 1787 to…