Experts

Jennifer Lawless

Faculty Senior Fellow
UVA+CV+-+Jennifer+Lawless.pdf

Fast Facts

  • Chair, UVA Department of Politics
  • Author or co-author of nine books
  • Former editor of the American Journal of Political Science
  • Expertise on women and politics, campaigns and elections, political media

Areas Of Expertise

  • Domestic Affairs
  • Media and the Press
  • Governance
  • Elections
  • Politics

Jennifer L. Lawless is the Leone Reaves and George W. Spicer Professor of Politics at the University of Virginia and the chair of the Politics Department. She is also has affiliations with UVA’s Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy and the Miller Center.

Her research focuses on political ambition, campaigns and elections, and media and politics. She is the author or co-author of nine books, including News Hole: The Demise of Local Journalism and Political Engagement (with Danny Hayes) and It Takes More than a Candidate: Why Women Don't Run for Office (with Richard L. Fox). 

Lawless' research, which has been supported by the National Science Foundation, has appeared in numerous academic journals and is regularly cited in the popular press. From 2019-2025, Lawless served as the co-editor in chief of the American Journal of Political Science. She is also the recipient of the 2023 Shorenstein Center Goldsmith Book Prize, for the academic book that examines the intersection among media, politics, and public policy. 

Lawless graduated from Union College with a BA in political science and Stanford University with an MA and PhD in political science. In 2006, she sought the Democratic nomination for the U.S. House of Representatives in Rhode Island’s second congressional district. Although she lost the race, she remains an obsessive political junkie.

Featured Publications

It Takes More Than a Candidate
It Takes More Than a Candidate

Jennifer Lawless (coauthor)

News Hole
News Hole: The Demise of Local Journalism and Political Engagement

Jennifer Lawless (coauthor)

Women Men
Women, Men & US Politics: 10 Big Questions

Jennifer Lawless (coauthor)

Women on the Run
Women on the Run

Jennifer Lawless (coauthor)

Running From Office
Running From Office

Jennifer Lawless (coauthor)

Becoming a Candidate
Becoming a Candidate

Jennifer Lawless

It Still Takes a Candidate
It Still Takes a Candidate

Jennifer Lawless (coauthor)

It Takes a Candidate
It Takes a Candidate

Jennifer Lawless (coauthor)

Jennifer Lawless News Feed

Christian Science Monitor
‘He poked mama bear’: Education clashes shape Virginia governor’s race
Like “soccer moms” of the 1990s, or “security moms” of the 2000s, this year’s “school board moms” have already been dubbed a pivotal swing vote. “These are independent women who live in the suburbs and are concerned about what’s going on in their kids’ schools,” says Jennifer Lawless, an expert on women and politics at the University of Virginia. “They were the ones responsible for providing homeschooling for a year, they are implementing COVID protocols in their home, and in many places, they believe they know better than the government what their kids should be learning.”
Jennifer Lawless The Christian Science Monitor
MSNBC
Will the Virginia governor's race be a referendum on Biden or Trump?
University of Virginia Professor of Politics, Jennifer Lawless, and University of Virginia Miller Center Senior Fellow, Mary Kate Cary, joined Chris Jansing live from Richmond, Virginia to preview Tuesday's high-stakes gubernatorial election there. They discuss what the race could signal for the 2022 midterms and how former President Donald Trump's influence could impact the results. "What Glenn Youngkin is trying to do is have his cake and eat it too," Lawless said.
Jennifer Lawless MSNBC
ABC News
Why can't congressional Democrats deliver more on their promises? It's complicated.
"Most Americans believe that government should be helping solve our problems and that compromise is better than obstruction," said Jennifer Lawless, a political science professor at the University of Virginia. "But the incentives for our elected leaders to do compromise has dissipated, creating a vicious cycle where we're seeing less action on what the average American wants. By the same token, there's also a very, very little incentive for the elected leaders to deliver moderation, because there'll be primary, and they'll lose."
Jennifer Lawless ABC News
Miller Center Presents
America’s electoral future: Where are the parties headed?
Three political experts discuss the state of America’s political parties during these extraordinary and unsettling times. The panelists will consider polarization, challenges that current partisanship pose to American democracy, and the deep historical roots of contemporary political developments.
Jennifer Lawless Miller Center Presents
Washington Post
She was a stripper during college. Now she’s running for Congress and sharing her story.
Bringing up a potentially controversial past before opponents or the media do can allow candidates to “inoculate themselves” against criticism, said Jennifer Lawless, a politics professor at the University of Virginia and the author of multiple books on women’s campaigns. But regardless of Hunt’s approach, Lawless said, it’s unlikely that Evans’s team (who has yet to publicly address Hunt’s run in any way and did not respond to a request for comment) would mention her history at all in the campaign.
Jennifer Lawless The Washington Post
You Don't Have to Yell
Why aren't there more women in Congress?
Senior Fellow Jennifer Lawless explains how women are just as likely as men to win an election, far less likely to be encouraged to run, and how we can correct this imbalance.
Jennifer Lawless You Don't Have to Yell