I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at George Washington University. I study American Politics with a focus in Political Behavior and Race and Ethnic Politics.
My book, "We Choose You: How Black Voters Decide Which Candidates to Support," (forthcoming in September 2024 at Cambridge University Press) asks- What considerations, beyond skin color and partisanship, do Black voters use to choose candidates to support? I answer this question using my community commitment signaling framework to explain that Black voters look for representatives, regardless of their race, who signal a commitment to prioritizing the racial group's political interests. Using multiple experimental tests, I am able show that Black voters' perception of a candidate's community commitment is the causal mechanism that predicts their candidate preferability. The implications of this work are far reaching both in the study of Black political behavior and in democratic representation. This research not only expands what we know about the strategic nature of Black political decision-making and candidate preference, it provides a roadmap to understanding why and how other groups support certain kinds of candidates with the same identity.
My published work can be found the Journal of Politics, PS: Political Science & Politics, Politics, Groups, and Identities. You can download my CV here, or visit the research page for drafts of working papers currently under review.
I received the 2022 Distinguished Junior Scholar Award in Political Psychology as well as the 2019 American Political Science Association's Best Dissertation Award in Race & Ethnic Politics. I also received the National Science Foundation's Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant.