I am a professor at the Department of Politics at Catholic University  My research and teaching interests include the U.S. Congress, political leadership, state (legislative) politics, American elections, and American political development.

My most recent book, Newt Gingrich: The Rise and Fall of a Party Entrepreneur  with Jeff Crouch, provides an in-depth scholarly analysis of the leadership of former congressman and Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich. I am also the author of Legislative Hardball (2019), the first book-length examination of the House Freedom Caucus; Choosing the Leader with Douglas Harris (2019), which explains the vote choice of lawmakers in congressional leadership elections; and several other books about American politics. 

My articles have appeared in American Politics Research, Electoral Studies, Political Research Quarterly, Legislative Studies Quarterly, State Politics & Policy Quarterly, and other journals. I am also a contributing writer to Mischiefs of Faction, a Substack newsletter about political parties, and co-editor of the Congressional Leadership series with the University Press of Kansas. In July 2025 I received the Barbara Sinclair Lecture Award from the American Political Science Association.