Forthcoming or In Progress

"When do Legislative Negotiations Succeed? A Case Study/Sweep Approach." This project gathers data from multiple journalistic and academic sources to build a new dataset of cases in which members of Congress entered into negotiations over legislation. The dataset is then used to identify the factors that are most closely associated with the success or failure of such negotiations.

"Quorum Calls in the U.S. House and the Challenge of Resilient Rules, 1970-1981." A working paper that explains the use of quorum calls in the House of Representatives and the reasons for their gradual elimination in the 1970's and early 1980's.

Select Prior Publications

Newt Gingrich: The Rise and Fall of a Party Entrepreneur (with Jeffrey Crouch), University Press of Kansas (2022). The first scholarly book-length analysis of Newt Gingrich's congressional career, drawing upon new interviews, archival material, and other sources to explain his motives and influence.

“Subverting the Organizational Cartel: Explaining Cross-Party Leadership Selection in U.S. State Houses.” American Politics Research 48(4), 475-483 (2020). Using a newly-collected data set of coalition governments in U.S. states, this paper tests various explanations for when cross-party coalitions reject party leaders nominated by the majority party.

“Maintaining the Organizational Cartel: How Nancy Pelosi Won Election as Speaker of the House” (with Douglas Harris), SSRN (2020). We use statistical analysis and contemporary press accounts to explain how Nancy Pelosi won over rebels within her party in order to be elected Speaker in 2019.

Legislative Hardball: The House Freedom Caucus and the Power of Threat-Making in Congress, Cambridge University Press (2019). A study of the House Freedom Caucus that posits reasons the Caucus would use aggressive bargaining tactics and evaluates the legislative success of the Caucus.

Choosing the Leader: Leadership Races in the U.S. House of Representatives (with Doug Harris), Yale University Press (2019). Using qualitative and quantitative data, including whip counts and other material gathered from over twenty historical archives around the country, we develop and test a new theory of vote choice in congressional leadership races.

"Diffusion in Congress: Social Dynamics of Discharge Petitions." Political Science Research and Methods 5(3), 103-123 (with René Lindstädt and Ryan Vander Wielen) (2017). An analysis of discharge petitions in the House of Representatives since the 1990's and the factors that determine the timing of signatures on petitions.

“Keeping the Team Together: Explaining Party Discipline and Dissent in the U.S. Congress” (with Briana Bee). From Party and Procedure in the United States Congress, 2^nd edition, ed. Jacob Straus and Matt Glassman (2016). We outline the basic spheres of authority of political parties in Congress and the ways--both effective and ineffective--that their leaders try to keep discipline within their ranks.

"The Multiple Roots of Party Loyalty: Explaining Republican Dissent in the U.S. House of Representatives." Congress and the Presidency 43(1), 103-123 (2016). I provide evidence that divisions within the House G.O.P. since 2010 can be partially explained by relationship with the Speaker and an inherent propensity towards dissent.

Underdog Politics: The Minority Party in the U.S. House of Representatives, Yale University Press (2015). The first book in decades to systematically analyze the politics of the House minority party. I demonstrate how the minority party employs electoral, symbolic, obstructionist, and policy-making tools to try to achieve its collective objectives; how those tools have changed over time; and the extent to which they influence political outcomes.

Washington 101: An Introduction to the Nation's Capital, Palgrave Macmillan (2014) (with Julie Yarwood, Laura Daughtery, and Maria Mazzenga). The result of an interdisciplinary course developed and taught at Catholic University, Washington 101 synthesizes hundreds of academic works and media accounts into a readable introduction to the city's politics, architecture, history, and economics.

The Speaker of the House: A Study of Leadership, Yale University Press (2010). Named Outstanding Academic Title for 2010 by the journal Choice and a finalist for the 2013 D.B. Hardeman Prize. The first comprehensive analysis of how and why the Speaker of the House has exercised legislative leadership from 1940 to the present. I show not only that Speakers have played a major role in the passage of significant legislation, but also that they are motivated to exercise legislative leadership for a variety of objectives, not merely to satisfy the interests of their party in the House.

“What Might Bring Regular Order Back to the House?” (with Daniel Burns). PS: Political Science & Politics 43(2) (2010). A review of major changes to the broader political context that would likely be required for the House to follow more "regular" legislative procedure in the future.

"Goal Salience and the 2006 Race for House Majority Leader" (with Doug Harris). Political Research Quarterly 60(4), 618-630 (2007). An analysis of what influenced the choice of House Republicans in voting for a new House Majority Leader in 2006. We find that campaign contributions, among other factors, had a statistically significant relationship with vote choice in the 2006 vote.

"Race, Party, and Contested Elections to the U.S. House of Representatives." Polity 39, 155-178 (2007). An examination of the rise and fall of contested elections in the House of Representatives in the 19th century. Looking at the cause of such elections, I argue that both partisan concerns and conflicts over black suffrage were at play.