Rate My Professor Jeremy Gelman

Jeremy Gelman is an associate professor of political science at the University of Nevada, Reno, where he joined the faculty as an assistant professor in 2017 and was promoted to associate professor in 2022. He earned his Ph.D. in political science from the University of Michigan in 2016, completing a dissertation titled "Why Bills Fail: Electioneering with the Legislative Agenda," advised by Richard Hall, Charles Shipan, Walter Mebane, and Rachel Best. Gelman received his B.A. in Distributed Studies from the University of Colorado in 2010, graduating magna cum laude and as a member of Phi Beta Kappa. Prior to his academic appointment at UNR, he served as an American Political Science Association (APSA) Congressional Fellow from 2016 to 2017, gaining firsthand experience in congressional operations.

Gelman's research examines American political institutions, focusing on the U.S. Congress, legislative agendas, partisanship, interest group dynamics, presidential programs, and social media strategies of legislators. He is the author of two books published by the University of Michigan Press: "Losing to Win: Why Congressional Majorities Play Politics Instead of Make Laws" (2020), which develops a theory of agenda-setting explaining majority parties' pursuit of dead-on-arrival bills, and "Posting for Power: Congressional Partisanship on Social Media" (with Steven Lloyd Wilson, 2026), analyzing millions of social media posts to assess partisan intensity and its implications for lawmaking. His peer-reviewed articles have appeared in premier journals including Legislative Studies Quarterly ("Measuring Congressional Partisanship and Its Consequences," 2022; "Rewarding Dysfunction: Interest Groups and Intended Legislative Failure," 2017; "The Opportunistic President: How U.S. Presidents Determine Their Legislative Programs," 2015), Political Research Quarterly ("The Deaths of Ideas in Congress," 2024; "Partisan Intensity in Congress: Evidence from Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court Nomination," 2021), Party Politics ("In Pursuit of Power: Competition for Majority Status and Senate Partisanship," 2019), Congress & the Presidency ("Ask and You May Receive: Senators’ Strategies for Securing Distributive Benefits," 2021), and Journal of Information Technology & Politics ("Mixing Messages: How Candidates Vary in Their Use of Twitter," 2021). Gelman's scholarship has received support from the National Science Foundation, Center for Effective Lawmaking, Dirksen Congressional Center, Dole Institute of Politics, Gerald R. Ford Foundation, and University of Nevada, Reno grants. He teaches undergraduate and graduate courses on American politics, state and local politics, the legislative process, the presidency, and research methods; serves as a reviewer for leading journals such as American Journal of Political Science and Legislative Studies Quarterly; and has provided commentary on national and Nevada politics for numerous media outlets. As co-PI of the Nevada Election Survey Project, he contributes to public understanding of local electoral dynamics.