About the American Local Elections Study

Justin de Benedictis-Kessner is the Emma Bloomberg Associate Professor of Public Policy at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. His research focuses on urban politics and policy. His work investigates how politics shapes and is shaped by some of the most important policy areas that concern local governments, such as housing, transportation, policing, and economic development.

John Sides studies political behavior in American and comparative politics. He is an author of The Bitter End: The 2020 Presidential Campaign and the Challenge to Democracy, Identity Crisis: The 2016 Presidential Campaign and The Battle for the Meaning of America, The Gamble: Choice and Chance in the 2012 Election, and Campaigns and Elections: Rules, Reality, Strategy, Choice.

Chris Warshaw is a Professor at the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University. In his research, he evaluates the links between public opinion, elections, and political outcomes in city and state governments, as well as the U.S. Congress. He also examines how political institutions, such as term limits or direct democracy, influence political representation.

Daniel is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He studies political behavior, state and local governance, and the criminal-justice system. His current research examines how policing affects political participation, and the link between voters, interest groups, and criminal justice outcomes at the local level. In other work, he studies elite communication and inequality in American news media.

Anna is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Local Politics Lab at Harvard University. Her research focuses on representation, local political economy, and political geography. She studies who holds power in American local governments, how that drives decision-making, and whose interests are reflected in policy, with a particular interest in small-town America.

Aidan is a Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Government at Harvard University. He studies American Politics, focusing on local politics, accountability, civic engagement, and non-voting political behavior using a mixed-methods approach. His current research focuses on the attitudes and characteristics of local elites and municipal staff and the relationship between political and economic inequality.

Jacob is a first-year Ph.D. student in the Department of Government, with a focus on American Politics and Political Methodology. His research interests lie broadly at the intersection of American politics, political geography, and political behavior.

Julian is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Government at Harvard University, where he studies American politics, political economy, and political methodology. He is particularly interested in questions of how individuals' political values influence their everyday social and economic behavior.