Election Aftermath in Democracies' Stalwarts: Where are Germany and the US Headed?

Lauren Gibbons, senior politics reporter at Bridge Michigan  

Lauren Gibbons covers state politics and government for Bridge Michigan, tracking the Michigan Legislature, elections and the impact of federal policy on the state. Before joining Bridge, she led Legislature and redistricting coverage at MLive and covered the state Senate for MIRS News. She has covered Michigan politics for more than a decade, winning awards for her political and criminal justice reporting. A Lansing native who graduated from Michigan State University, Lauren is now based in Ferndale. Her party tricks include telling friends which political districts they live in without looking. 

Matthias Quent, professor of sociology at Magdeburg-Stendal University of Applied Sciences  

Matthias Quent is professor of sociology at Magdeburg-Stendal University of Applied Sciences. He conducts research on democracy, civil society, social justice, and right-wing extremism in the context of the ecological transformation, among other topics. He is currently researching the social and political consequences of digitization and the metaverse as the future of the Internet, and is a member of the expert commission preparing the German government’s Fourth Engagement Report. He is active as an expert and consultant for various institutions. In his current book, Climate Racism (Piper 2022, co-authored with C. Richter & A. Salheiser), he addresses the question of how and why right-wing actors instrumentalize climate change and the ecological turn. Quent was founding director of the Institute for Democracy and Civil Society Jena and is co-founder of the nationwide Research Institute for Social Cohesion and Institute for Democratic Culture at the University of Applied Sciences Magdeburg-Stendal. 

Craig Gilbert, Political columnist for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and Lubar Fellow, Marquette Law School  

Craig Gilbert is the recently retired Washington Bureau Chief and national political reporter for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. He has covered every presidential campaign since 1988 and chronicled Wisconsin’s role as the nation’s most enduring political battleground. Gilbert has written extensively about the battle for the swing states of the industrial Midwest, the region’s shifting political map, its increasingly polarized political culture and the deepening urban-rural divide. His work has been recognized by Editor & Publisher, the National Press Foundation, the National Headliner Awards, the Milwaukee Press Club, and the Columbia Journalism Review, which called him the “most political science friendly reporter in America.” Gilbert was a Knight-Wallace fellow at the University of Michigan; a writer in residence at the University of Wisconsin and is a current and past fellow at the Lubar Center. Gilbert previously worked for the Miami Herald, the Kingston (NY) Daily Freeman and was a speechwriter for New York Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan. He has a B.A. in History from Yale University. 

Florian Ranft, Member of the Management Board, German think tank Das Progressive Zentrum  

Florian Ranft is a member of the Management Board of Das Progressive Zentrum, where he shapes the organisation’s strategy and positioning and heads its “International” and “Green New Deal” work. He is responsible for leading large-scale policy projects and the organisation’s international activities, and for building its high-level policy and political contacts across Germany, Europe and North America. He has a strong track record in policy research on tech and innovation, climate, the labour market and place-based policies, with a focus on how democratic and economic transformation can be shaped in Germany, Europe and beyond. Florian has overseen large-scale projects such as Transatlantic Dialogue on the Industrial Heartlands, Societal Acceptance of AI, Politics of Inequality orFoundational Work in the German Labour Market, and is co-author of studies and discussion papers including Europe’s Industrial Stack, No Backlash, No Retreat and The Disregarded. He is also co-editor of Work in the Digital Age: Challenges of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and a number of other volumes. He brings together policymakers, industry and think tanks across borders through Das Progressive Zentrum’s flagship international formats, including the Progressive Governance Summit and the Progressive Economics Network. He regularly comments on domestic and foreign policy in outlets such as the Guardian, taz and the New Statesman. Florian has deep roots in the international policy community. He was previously Head of Policy and International at Policy Network and Senior Research Analyst at the Centre for Progressive Policy, two London-based think tanks, and is a Visiting Research Fellow at the Mile End Institute, Queen Mary University of London. Earlier in his career, he taught and researched political sociology and international politics at the universities of Frankfurt and Greifswald. 

Wolfgang Moessinger, former German Diplomat with the Foreign Office and  German Consul-General to United States  

Wolfgang Mössinger is an experienced German diplomat with extensive expertise in international relations, cross-border cooperation, stakeholder engagement, and strategic communication. During his tenure as German Consul General in Chicago, he played a key role in strengthening connections between Germany’s Ruhr region and the U.S. Midwest, fostering partnerships through collaborative initiatives, virtual symposiums, and international study tours. As a member of the TIH initiative, Mössinger contributed to a network of more than 500 members across six countries, working closely with government officials and regional stakeholders, including the State Chancellery of North Rhine-Westphalia and the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy (DG REGIO). His diplomatic career has included assignments in Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Scotland, Russia, Finland, and Senegal, providing him with a broad international perspective and extensive experience in building relationships across cultures and borders. Based in Germany, Mössinger speaks English, French, German, and Russian. 

Jon Delano, Veteran Pennsylvania Journalist and Political Reporter with KDKA-TV Pittsburgh for political coverage this fall

Jon Delano is a longtime political and public affairs journalist who spent more than 30 years on air with KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh, covering government, politics, economic development, and business issues affecting Western Pennsylvania.

During his career at KDKA-TV, Delano reported extensively on local, state, and national politics and interviewed and covered presidents, governors, candidates, elected officials, and other influential figures. He also hosted the Sunday morning public affairs segment The Sunday Business Page, presented the Money Minute, and hosted the periodic program Inside PA Politics with Jon Delano. Now retired from daily television news, Delano remains active as a moderator and speaker. He regularly moderates programs and legislative panels for businesses, associations, and nonprofit organizations and speaks about contemporary political campaigns and the presidents, governors, candidates, and public figures he has encountered throughout his career.