Jamie L. Carson

American Politics · Elections · Congress

Jamie L. Carson

UGA Athletic Association Professor of Public and International Affairs II
Professor of Political Science
University of Georgia

I study American elections, Congress, electoral nationalization, primaries, campaign finance, and democratic institutions. My research examines how changes in the broader political environment reshape electoral competition, representation, and political behavior.

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Portrait of Jamie L. Carson

Research

Research interests

Congressional Elections

Competition, incumbency, candidate emergence, primaries, redistricting, and the changing structure of U.S. House and Senate elections.

Electoral Nationalization

How national partisan forces increasingly shape voting behavior, candidate evaluations, and electoral outcomes across offices and levels of government.

Campaign Finance

Fundraising, donor geography, campaign spending, and the ways financial resources structure competition in congressional and local elections.

Current Work

Selected Projects in Progress

  • Beyond the Ballot: Nationalization, Primaries, and the New Landscape of Congressional Elections
  • When Party Loyalty Becomes Nationalized: Presidential Politics and Legislators’ Changing Electoral Incentives
  • The Transmission Problem: A Nationalization-Weighted Forecast for the 2026 Midterm Elections
  • Does Quality Still Matter? Prior Office, Electoral Structure, and the Conditional Value of Candidate Experience in a Nationalized Era

Books

Selected books

In Development

The Politics of Congressional Elections, 12th ed.

With Gary C. Jacobson · Bloomsbury Publishing

Publications

Recent & selected articles

2026
“The People’s Attorney? Examining Public Trust in the Prosecutor’s Office”

With Joshua Baldwin, Damon Cann, and Jeffrey Yates · Journal of Law and Courts

2026
“Breaking Barriers: Analyzing Women Prosecutors’ Electoral Success”

With Damon Cann, Jeffrey Yates, and Ronald Wright · Political Behavior

2026
“The Stuck Electorate: Polarization, Nationalization, and the Consolidation of Party in the Trump Era”

With Stewart Ulrich · Presidential Studies Quarterly

2026
“A Retrospective on Redistricting Practices and Electoral Competition in U.S. Elections”

With David Cottrell and Ryan Williamson · State Politics & Policy Quarterly

2024
“The Increasing Nationalization of Local Elections: The Case of Prosecutors”

With Damon Cann, Jeffrey Yates, and Ronald Wright · Political Research Quarterly

2007
“Candidate Quality, the Personal Vote, and the Incumbency Advantage in Congress”

With Erik Engstrom and Jason Roberts · American Political Science Review

See the complete publication record in my CV →

Teaching

Courses

Graduate

  • Seminar in Electoral Behavior
  • The U.S. Presidency

Undergraduate

  • Congressional Elections
  • American Electoral Development
  • The U.S. Presidency

Professional Service

Editing, reviewing & service

Series Editor

Legislative Politics and Policymaking, University of Michigan Press, with James Curry.

Editorial Service

Former editorial board member for Legislative Studies Quarterly and the Journal of Politics.

Awards

Recipient of the University of Georgia William A. Owens Creative Research in the Social Sciences Award, 2025–26.

Curriculum Vitae

Full CV

My complete August 2026 curriculum vitae includes books, articles, works in progress, teaching, awards, presentations, professional service, and other activities.

Open CV

Contact

Contact

Jamie L. Carson
Department of Political Science
University of Georgia
304B Baldwin Hall
355 S. Jackson St.
Athens, GA 30602-1615

carson@uga.edu

University of Georgia faculty profile