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

The New York Times
The Gillibrand Test Case for Women in Politics
“We’ve learned that in a lot of ways women running for president behave a lot like men running for president,” said Jennifer Lawless, an expert on gender and politics at the University of Virginia. “She was just as credible as some of these other guys, but this was a bad year to not be Joe Biden.”

Jennifer Lawless The New York Times
Dallas Morning News
Voters ready for a woman president, but perception of others' bias keeps 'electability' doubts alive
“People look around and they think, well, I'm willing to vote for a female candidate, but there's no way that Neanderthal who lives next door to me is,” said Jennifer Lawless, a University of Virginia professor and former director of the Women & Politics Institute at American University's School of Public Affairs.
Jennifer Lawless The Dallas Morning News
HuffPost
In The End, No One Wanted A Me Too Presidential Candidate
“When you look at the front-runners, when you look at their records, even absent calling for Franken’s resignation, it’s hard to see how she’d make it into the top tier,” said Jennifer Lawless, a political science professor at the University of Virginia.
Jennifer Lawless HuffPost
Washington Post
They lost in the Year of the Woman. But it might make them stronger in 2020.
“You have a list of donors you can re-solicit. You have relationships with local media,” said Jennifer Lawless, an expert on gender and politics at the University of Virginia. “You have a campaign infrastructure that you might tweak or replace some of the key operatives, but you know how to do this.”
Jennifer Lawless The Washington Post
Vox
How to close the massive gender gap in Congress
“Republicans are far less likely to believe in group rights or identity politics,” says Jennifer Lawless, a political science professor at the University of Virginia. “Structurally, the biggest challenge that needs to be met is to provide incentives to the Republican Party.”
Jennifer Lawless Vox.com
Boston Globe
Baker and Raimondo: A tale of two governors and two very different approval ratings
University of Virginia Professor Jennifer L. Lawless, who has written books about women in politics, said research shows female candidates are as likely to succeed as men on Election Day. But women are often held to different standards once elected, she said, noting the top 10 governors in the Morning Consult poll are men. Lawless, who ran unsuccessfully for Congress in Rhode Island while working at Brown University, said there has long been a perception that female politicians could not succeed in Rhode Island, where Republican Claudine Schneider was the only woman to represent the state in Congress, from 1981 to 1991. “Rhode Island norms die hard,” she said.
Jennifer Lawless Boston Globe