Welcome! I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Houston. I am also a faculty affiliate at the Center for Effective Lawmaking and an instructor at the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR). Before joining UH, I received a joint PhD in Politics and Social Policy from Princeton University.
I study representation, policymaking, and the influence of money in American legislatures (both state and federal). My research asks how recent political developments — changes like worsening polarization, the rise of social media, or the growing importance of money — shape contemporary politics. In other words, how are legislatures today different than the versions you read about in the textbooks? My work can be found in the Journal of Politics, the Quarterly Journal of Political Science, Legislative Studies Quarterly, and elsewhere.
I have a book coming out soon. Paying for the Party: How Fundraising Demands Lead to Less Productive and Less Representative Legislatures (available June 2026) explores the causes and consequences of growing fundraising demands in American legislatures. Party fundraising systems, which pressure lawmakers to raise and contribute money on behalf of their parties, shape politics and policy in many state legislatures as well as Congress. Leveraging original data from across the states, I provide evidence that party fundraising hollows out the lawmaking capacity of legislatures and contributes to representational deficits at the top of the party hierarchy. The dissertation on which the book is based received awards from the Legislative Studies and State Politics & Policy sections of the American Political Science Association.
Other ongoing research covers topics such as rhetorical representation by members of Congress, how interest groups wield influence in state legislatures, and the strategic use of conspiracy theories by political elites. More details about these projects can be found on the Research page of my website and on my CV. To see what classes I teach and check out syllabi/other course materials, visit my Teaching page. If you want to talk about my research, shoot me an email (or if you’re on campus, drop by my office).