Brookings Mountain West is pleased to release a new policy brief from Brookings Senior Fellow in Governance Studies titled, "." In the piece, Reynolds explores how the 116th Congress has begun with a bang, with a protracted government shutdown and promises of aggressive oversight from the new Democratic House majority. To understand how we got to this point—and where we might be going in 2020— she offers a look back at the 2018 elections. As a region, the Mountain West—Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, and Utah—provides useful insights into broader national political dynamics across all levels of government, from Congress to state legislatures.