Research

Congressional Behavior

In American Politics there is no federal politician closer to the people than the members of the U.S. House. There is also no other federal politician who faces as tight of a time constraint as House members; upon taking office members have between 669 and 675 days before they face another election. This makes the question of how House member spend their time in office an intensly interesting one.

  • How do members allocate their limited time across their vast array of resources?
    • Paper: “Franking Privilege and Electoral Threat in the U.S. House” (Presented at the APSA 2024 Annual Meeting)
    • Paper: “Perquisite Use and Redistricting Threat” (dissertation article)
  • How do constituency traits impact legislative behavior in the U.S. House?
    • Paper: “Separating the Lawmakers from the Lawfakers: Legislative Investment in the U.S. House” (dissertation article)

Elections

Elections are at the heart of my research agenda. Anthony Downs said that “Elections force politicians to regard some individuals as more important than others”, my research on elections examines the downstream implications of this fundamental truth.

  • How do the “rules of the game” impact the fairness of the outcome?
    • Paper: “Constituency Size, Geographic Sorting, and the Perpetuation of Bias in Single-Member Districts” with Dan Magleby and Gregory Robinson (Unpublished manuscript)
  • When do elections improve the quality of governance? When do they lower it?

Voting Behavior

Understanding the public’s behavior in elections is integral to understanding the behvaior of public officials. Together these two groups form a reciprocal relationship with each affecting the behavior of others.

  • How does being electorally pivotal impact voters’ quality of life?
  • Do voter perceptions match empirical realities?
    • “Presidential Copartisanship and Evaluations of the U.S. Economy” (seminar paper 3rd year)

Legislatures

Lawmaking bodies are ubiquitous, found in both democratic and authoritarian states.

  • What do state legislatures teach us about their national analogues?
  • How does state legislative behavior impact congressional behavior?
    • “The Good, the Bad, and the R+14: Retaliatory Redistricting in the U.S. States” (unpublished manuscript)