David Mayhew
Bio
David Mayhew is Sterling Professor of Political Science Emeritus. He retired from Yale in 2015 but still teaches occasional courses. He specializes in U.S. legislative behavior, political parties, and policymaking. His books include The Imprint of Congress (2017), Partisan Balance (2011), Parties and Policies (2008), Electoral Realignments (2002), America’s Congress (2000), Divided We Govern (1991 & 2005), Placing Parties in American Politics (1986), Congress: The Electoral Connection (1974 & 2004), and Party Loyalty among Congressmen (1966). Aside from Yale, where he began teaching in 1968, he has taught at UMass/Amherst, Amherst College, Oxford, and Harvard, and has held fellowships at Stanford and CalTech. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, and the National Academy of Sciences.
Contact
David R. Mayhew
Department of Political Science
115 Prospect Street
PO Box 208301
New Haven, CT 06520-8301
david.mayhew@yale.edu
Education
- Ph.D., Harvard University, 1964
Video/Slides
- 2024-04-16 “Eric Patashnik — Countermobilization: Policy Feedback and Backlash in a Polarized Age” - Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs , Brown University
- 2023-12-15 - “What Happens Next? Policy Implications of the 2022 Midterm Elections:” (Opening Remarks), Yale University, ISPS
- 2021-01-12 - “Yale ISPS Event – The 25th Amendment: A Constitutional Mechanism for Removing the American President”
- 2020-11-19 - “Yale ISPS Event - Election 2020: What Happened and What’s Next?”
- 2018-12-14 - “Congress, Elections and Time” at the 50th anniversary celebration of ISPS”
- 2017-06-21 - “What Happened To Congress?” Three person panel at the National Constitution Center
- 2017 - Rant Against the Media Coverage of Congress
- 2015-11-13 - The Federalist Society, Panel 3: “The Living Congress: Adaptation or Decline?” (begin 49:03)
- 2015-10-07 - The MacMillan Report: David Mayhew talks about his new book The Imprint of Congress
- 2015-09-29 - The Stimson Lecture Series, Part 3, “The Imprint of Congress: An Assessment”
- 2015-09-23 - The Stimson Lecture Series, Part 2: “The Imprint of Congress: The History”
- 2015-09-22 - The Stimson Lecture Series, Part 1: “The Imprint of Congress: How To Think About It”
- 2014-11-03 - ISPS Midterm 2014: Expert Perspectives and Predictions
- 2013-05-29 - Professor David Mayhew Address at Representation & Governance: A conference in Honor of David Mayhew - Yale University
- 2013-05-29 - Roundtable Discussion at Representation & Governance: A conference in Honor of David Mayhew - Yale University
- 2013-04-04 - Thinking About Politics: A Conference Dedicated to Explaining and Perpetuating the Political Insights of James Q. Wilson - Harvard University and Boston College.
- 2013-02-18 - A Roundtable discussion of The Elections of 2012 - Miller Center, University of Virginia
- 2012-11-02 - President Obama and the Democratic Congress - CSPAN
- 2011-11-15 - The Politics of Major Policy Reform - Concluding keynote address, The 2011 William and Carol Stevenson Conference, Miller Center of Public Affairs
- 2010-11-03 - Panelists discussing Senate Filibuster Rules - CSPAN
- 2009-03-11 - “Reform as a Property of the System” - Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University
- 2009-03-10 - “What Happens to White House Legislative Proposals?” - Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University
- 2009-03-09 - “Congress and the Presidency: Dissonance in their Electoral Bases?” - Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University
- 2002 - “Supermajority Rule in the U.S. Senate” - APSA Madison Award Speech, 2002
Podcast
Short Pieces
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“Commonalities Surround Repeal Drives: Prohibition, Right-to-Work, and the Affordable Care Act” (2024 manuscript)
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“Two Centuries of Presidential Elections,” Presidential Studies Quarterly, 52:2 (June 2022), 393-410.
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“Context for Partisan Gerrymandering of U.S. House Districts: The 1970s through the 2010s”, Yale Workshop on Redistricting, November 2-3, 2018
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“Congress in the Light of History,” Starting Points, March 2018
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“Patterns in American Elections,” ch. 21 in Richard M. Valelly, Suzanne Mettler & Robert C. Lieberman (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of American Political Development (Oxford UP), 2016
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“Robert A. Dahl: Questions, Concepts, Proving It,” Journal of Political Power 8:2 (2015), 175-87
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“Congress as a Handler of Challenges: The Historical Record,” Studies in American Political Development 29:2 (2015), 185-212
- “What Can Obama Expect from His Last Congress?” (with Matthew I. Bettinger), Monkey Cage, July 9, 2014
- “The Long 1950s as a Policy Era,” ch. 2 in Jeffery A. Jenkins & Sidney M. Milkis (eds.), The Politics of Major Policy Reform in Postwar America (Cambridge UP, 2014)
- “The Meaning of the 2012 Election,” ch. 9 in Michael Nelson (ed.), The Elections of 2012 (CQ Press, 2013)
- “Which Was the Most Important U.S. Election Ever?” Washington Post (Outlook section), February 19, 2012
- “Theorizing about Congress,” ch. 38 in Eric Schickler & Frances Lee (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of the American Congress (Oxford UP, 2011)
- “Legislative Obstruction,” review essay centered on Gregory Koger, Filibustering (2010), in Perspectives on Politics 8:4 (December 2010), 1145-54
- “Is Congress ‘the Broken Branch’?” Boston University Law Review 89:2 (April 2009), 357-69
- “Incumbency Advantage in Presidential Elections: The Historical Record.” Political Science Quarterly 123:2 (Summer 2008), 201-28
- “Events as Causes: The Case of American Politics,” chapter 4 in Ian Shapiro & Sonu Bedi (eds.), Political Contingency (NYU Press, 2007)
- “Wars and American Politics,” Perspectives on Politics 3 (2005), 473-93