Center Affiliates – Center for Effective Lawmaking

Checks, Balances, and Presidential Ambitions

Checks, Balances, and Presidential Ambitions Do legislators with presidential ambitions neglect Congress in pursuit of higher office, or can those ambitions actually strengthen their role within the legislature? In this Quarterly Journal of Political Science article, Christian Fong (Associate Professor at Johns Hopkins University and Center for Effective Lawmaking Faculty Affiliate), Kenneth Lowande (Associate Professor at Rice University), and Ayse Eldes (Affiliate of the Center for the Study of Democratic Politics at Princeton University) examine how running for president relates to members’ participation in the core legislative functions that shape Congress’s…

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October 22, 2026

Center Affiliates / Faculty Affiliates / Legislative Anaylsis / Legislative Research

The Legislative Effectiveness of Congressional Oversight Reports

The Legislative Effectiveness of Congressional Oversight Reports Wednesday, October 14, 2026In this published article in Legislative Studies Quarterly, Sean Theriault, Professor at the University of Texas at Austin and Center for Effective Lawmaking (CEL) Faculty Affiliate, examines the linkage between House and Senate oversight committee reports and subsequent legislative efforts in the same policy areas from the 106th through the 116th Congresses (1999-2020). He finds that policy topics appearing in the reports prompt the referral of bills related to such topics to the oversight committees. Topics covered in majority staff…

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October 14, 2026

Center Affiliates / Faculty Affiliates / Legislative Anaylsis / Legislative Research

Bipartisan Political Brands

Bipartisan Political Brands Wednesday, September 30, 2026 Can efforts to cultivate a bipartisan political brand meaningfully shape how lawmakers are perceived, or are such signals dismissed in an increasingly polarized political environment? In this Center for Effective Lawmaking (CEL) working paper, Faculty Affiliate Andrew J. Clarke, an associate professor of Government and Law at Lafayette College, and Christopher M. Byrnes, a Lafayette College alum, examine whether affiliation with the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus can influence perceptions of legislators’ ideology. Through a descriptive analysis of newly collected Problem Solvers Caucus membership…

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September 30, 2026

Center Affiliates / Events / Faculty Affiliates / Legislative Research

CEL at APSA 2026

CEL affiliates during a dinner at the end of APSA CEL at APSA 2026 Thursday, September 17, 2026 Between September 2-5, the Center for Effective Lawmaking (CEL) attended the annual American Political Science Association (APSA) conference in Boston, Massachusetts. The event brought together political scientists, scholars, and experts from across the discipline to participate and showcase their works to a broad audience, with panels and presentations that included the following from CEL affiliates (and others): The Impact of Public-Facing Personas on Legislative Activity in Congress – SoRelle Wyckoff Gaynor (University…

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September 17, 2026

About the CEL / Center Affiliates / Research Affiliates

Meet our Research Affiliates: Jordon Newton and Kisoo Kim

Meet our Research Affiliates: Jordon Newton and Kisoo Kim The Center for Effective Lawmaking (CEL) is excited to announce our newest research affiliate, Dr. Jordon Newton, and the recent move of our current research affiliate, Dr. Kisoo Kim.Jordon Newton is a postdoctoral fellow at Vanderbilt University. His research examines how American political institutions shape representation by structuring the behavior of political elites and citizens. His current projects focus on how institutional rules and election laws influence democratic outcomes at the federal and state level, and the ways that local political…

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September 14, 2026

About the CEL / Center Affiliates / Graduate Affiliates

Meet Our Graduate Affiliates: Chloe Lola Browne and Wahinya Njau

Meet Our Graduate Affiliates: Chloe Lola Browne and Wahinya Njau Tuesday, September 1, 2026The Center for Effective Lawmaking is excited to introduce Chloe Lola Browne and Wahinya Njau as two of our newest Graduate Affiliates.Browne is a doctoral student at the University of Virginia studying American political institutions and research methodology. Her research interests include state politics, policy diffusion, and quantitative methodology. Prior to attending the University of Virginia, Browne was a Policy Fellow with the Correlates of State Policy Project for the Institute for Public Policy and Social Research. She also…

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September 1, 2026

About the CEL / Center Affiliates / Faculty Affiliates

Meet our Faculty Affiliate: Jacob Lollis

Meet our Faculty Affiliate: Jacob Lollis The Center for Effective Lawmaking (CEL) is pleased to announce Jacob Lollis as one of our newest faculty affiliates. Jacob Lollis is an Assistant Professor of Political Science in the School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Cincinnati, where he studies American political institutions, with a focus on representation, legislative behavior, and effective lawmaking. His current research examines the consequences of descriptive representation, the dynamics of bipartisanship, and the conditions that facilitate effective lawmaking in the U.S. Congress. Dr. Lollis earned his…

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August 27, 2026

About the CEL / Center Affiliates / Faculty Affiliates

Meet our Faculty Affiliate: Mackenzie Dobson

Meet our Faculty Affiliate: Mackenzie Dobson The Center for Effective Lawmaking (CEL) is pleased to announce Mackenzie Dobson as one of our newest faculty affiliates, having recently been one of our graduate research affiliates. Mackenzie R. Dobson is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Her research centers on bipartisan collaboration, effective lawmaking, and political representation in American legislatures. She studies how legislators build relationships across party lines, how those relationships shape policymaking and legislative success across policy areas, and how reform efforts, including those aimed…

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August 25, 2026

Center Affiliates / Faculty Affiliates / Legislative Anaylsis / Legislative Research / State Legislatures

Colleagues and Neighbors? Geographic Patterns of Collaboration and Legislative Effectiveness

Colleagues and Neighbors? Geographic Patterns of Collaboration and Legislative Effectiveness Tuesday, August 11, 2026Geography plays a role in shaping American legislatures, but while there is often a focus on the importance of constituency representation, its role as a source of division does not always receive as much attention. Legislative politics scholarship increasingly recognizes the importance of social relationships and networks in shaping outcomes, and within this literature, one important observation is that collaboration across difference can be especially impactful. In state legislatures, within-state regional divisions are often common knowledge but…

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August 11, 2026

Policy Agendas, Effective Lawmaking, and Women’s Issues in State Legislatures

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Center Affiliates / Faculty Affiliates / Interest & Legislative Effectiveness Scores / Legislative Anaylsis / Legislative Research / Policy Scores / State Legislative Effectiveness Scores / State Legislatures

Policy Agendas, Effective Lawmaking, and Women’s Issues in State Legislatures

Policy Agendas, Effective Lawmaking, and Women’s Issues in State Legislatures Tuesday, August 4, 2026 State legislatures introduce roughly 100,000 bills a year, far outpacing Congress, yet scholars have long lacked a reliable way to sort that volume into policy areas, making it hard to ask basic questions about which issues get attention, which stall, and who succeeds where. In this Center for Effective Lawmaking (CEL) working paper, the authors take on that challenge directly. It was written by Andrew M.O. Ballard, Associate Professor at Florida State University (and CEL Faculty…

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August 3, 2026