Jordan Kujala

Position Title
Ph.D. American politics and political methodology

Bio

After graduating with a Ph.D. in American politics and political methodology from the University of California, Davis in winter 2017, I held a three-year visiting assistant professor position at the University of California Center Sacramento. As a visiting professor, I developed and taught courses in American politics, public policy, and research methods. This academic year I am a part of the 2020-2021 class of Congressional Fellows in the American Political Science Association Congressional Fellowship Program.

Research Focus

In my research, I examine congressional representation in the United States by analyzing the influence that money and elections have on the policy positions and success of major party nominees for the U.S. House of Representatives. I find the strongest evidence to date that the influence of donors in primary elections substantially affects the representation of congressional candidates. My work with these findings was recently published in the American Journal of Political Science. Current and future works on ideological representation in the U.S. include the effects of congressional party conventions as well as Citizens United v Federal Election Commission (2010) and the increase in outside spending in congressional campaigns

Education and Degree(s)
  • 2020-2021 class of Congressional Fellows in the American Political Science Association Congressional Fellowship Program
Publications
  • Kujala, Jordan. 2020. “Donors, Primary Elections, and Polarization in the United States”
  • American Journal of Political Science 64(3): 587-602.
  • *Research featured in the Niskanen Center’s Science of Politics Podcast: How Donor Opinion Distorts American Parties (July 29, 2020).