What can we learn from the government shutdown and the elections?

Dan Meyer, a Miller Center Governing Council member, served as chief of staff to Kevin McCarthy from 2019 to 2023 during McCarthy’s time as House Republican minority leader and then as House Speaker. Meyer also served in the George W. Bush administration as assistant to the president for legislative affairs from 2007 to 2009. Before that, he was chief of staff to Newt Gingrich from 1989 to 1996 during Gingrich’s time as House Republican whip and then as House Speaker. Meyer also worked for the Duberstein Group, serving as vice president and then president. He currently serves on the board of the Congressional Institute and holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Minnesota Twin Cities.

Rachel Augustine Potter, a Miller Center faculty senior fellow, is an associate professor of politics at the University of Virginia. Her research focuses on the hidden politics of procedure and process in American political institutions, with a particular focus on bureaucracy and regulation. Her book Bending the Rules: Procedural Politicking in the Bureaucracy (University of Chicago Press, 2019) received the American Political Science Association’s (APSA)Theodore Lowi Award for the best first book in any field of political science, APSA’s Richard Neustadt Award for the best book on executive politics, and the National Academy of Public Administration’s Louis Brownlow Award for the best book on public administration. Potter received her BA from Boston College, her MPP from the University of Southern California, and her MA and PhD from the University of Michigan.

Doug Sosnik is senior advisor to the Brunswick Group. He served as a senior advisor to President Clinton from 1994 to 2000, playing a key role in policy, strategy, political, and communications decisions in the White House. His titles included senior advisor for policy and strategy, White House political director, and deputy legislative director. He has advised more than 50 U.S. senators and governors and other organizations and individuals on their critical issues, including the National Basketball Association, the Motion Picture Association of America, CNBC, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the University of North Carolina. He coauthored Applebee’s America: How Successful Political, Business, and Religious Leaders Connect with the New American Community (2006). He received his BA from Duke University.

Louisa Terrell, a Miller Center practitioner senior fellow, provides strategic counsel to nonprofits and businesses. She served as assistant to the president and director of the White House Office of Legislative Affairs from January 2021 to August 2023 under President Joseph Biden. She was a senior advisor to the Harris–Walz campaign and the Democratic National Convention. She was previously deputy chief of staff to then-Senator Biden, chief of staff to Senator Cory A. Booker, and advisor to the chairman at the Federal Communications Commission. Terrell has worked in the private sector as a director of federal policy and strategy at Yahoo, a public policy director at Facebook, and deputy general counsel at McKinsey & Company. She holds a BA from Tufts University and a JD from Boston College Law School.

William J. Antholis has served as director and CEO of UVA’s Miller Center of Public Affairs since January 2015. In that time, the Miller Center has strengthened its position as the leading nonpartisan research institution on the American presidency and worked with scholars across the University of Virginia to deliver vital research to policymakers and the public. Before coming to the Miller Center, Antholis served as managing director at the Brookings Institution from 2004 to 2014, working directly with Brookings’s president and vice presidents. He also served at the U.S. Department of State and National Security Council. Antholis is the author of two books and dozens of articles on U.S. politics, U.S. foreign policy, international organizations, the G8, climate change, and trade. He holds a BA from UVA and a PhD from Yale University.