Washington — Economist's Checks and Balance Looks Past Midterms

The Economist published the Nov. 7 edition of its Checks and Balance newsletter under the heading "What comes next after the midterms?", turning attention from this year's election results to the figures who could shape the next phase of American politics, according to the newsletter.

The edition is written by Charlotte Howard, the magazine's US editor, and is framed around what the publication describes as "the rising political stars who could shape America's future," per the newsletter's own description. The piece runs in the Economist's United States section, the regular home for Checks and Balance, a newsletter the magazine uses to track the mechanics and personalities of Washington between major news cycles.

What does the newsletter say about rising political stars?

The Nov. 7 installment is pitched as a forward-looking survey rather than a recap. Rather than relitigating the midterm results themselves, Howard's newsletter asks which officials, candidates or operatives are positioned to matter most in the next stretch of the political calendar. The Economist's framing — centered on figures who "could shape America's future" — places the newsletter in a genre familiar to longtime readers of Checks and Balance: profiles and assessments of ascending politicians rather than a ballot-by-ballot accounting of who won which seat.

The newsletter's headline question, "What comes next after the midterms?", signals that the piece treats the midterms as a hinge point. The full text of Howard's analysis, including which individuals she names and why, sits behind the Economist's own publication, which is the authoritative source for those specifics.

Who is Charlotte Howard and what is Checks and Balance?

Howard is identified in the byline as the Economist's US editor, the role from which she writes the Checks and Balance newsletter. The newsletter itself is a recurring feature of the magazine's United States coverage, built to walk readers through developments in American governance and electoral politics on a regular cadence. The Nov. 7 edition continues that pattern, using the aftermath of a national midterm election as the occasion for a piece focused on personnel rather than policy outcomes.

"The rising political stars who could shape America's future" — the Economist's own description of the Nov. 7 Checks and Balance newsletter

That line, drawn directly from the publication's description of the piece, is the clearest public signal of its scope: an assessment of people, not simply an election tally.

Why does this question matter after the 2026 midterms?

Midterm elections routinely prompt a reassessment of who holds power inside the two major parties and who is positioned for the next national campaign. The Economist's decision to run a newsletter asking what comes next, rather than one tallying results, reflects a common post-midterm pattern in political journalism: attention shifts quickly from the vote itself to the question of which officials emerge with added standing. The newsletter does not frame this as a settled matter. Its own headline poses the trajectory of American politics as an open question rather than a foregone conclusion, consistent with the publication's practice of presenting developments without declaring winners among competing political figures or factions.

What should readers watch for next

• The full Nov. 7 edition of Checks and Balance, available on the Economist's site, for Howard's specific assessment of which figures she considers rising.
• Follow-up coverage in the Economist's United States section, where Checks and Balance runs regularly and often returns to figures it has previously flagged.
• Statements or appearances by officials and candidates in the weeks after the midterms, which tend to generate the kind of coverage this newsletter format is built to track.
• Any explicit naming of 2028 contenders, a subject the newsletter's framing suggests may follow in subsequent editions.

Where can readers find the full newsletter?

The complete Nov. 7 edition, including the names and reasoning behind the Economist's selection of rising political figures, is published at economist.com. That text remains the primary source for readers seeking the specific individuals and arguments Howard raises, beyond the general framing the magazine has made public in its own description of the piece.