Wikipedia

Frances E. Lee

Frances E. Lee (born 1968) is an American political scientist, specializing in the U.S. Congress, national policymaking, party politics, and representation. She is the author or co-author of several books on the U.S. Congress, including A Case for Congress,[1] The Limits of Party: Congress and Lawmaking in a Polarized Era (with James M. Curry),[2] and Insecure Majorities: Congress and the Perpetual Campaign.[3] The central thesis of Insecure Majorities, that the competitive elections of recent decades have made the political parties less cooperative in office, has found support from many quarters, including then-Senate leader Mitch McConnell, who said, "I think there's a lot to that."[4] Her 2009 book Beyond Ideology[5] has been cited over 900 times in the political science literature.[6] Lee co-authors the leading textbook Congress and Its Members, currently in its twentieth edition.[7]

Frances E. Lee
OccupationAuthor, professor
NationalityAmerican
EducationUniversity of Southern Mississippi (B.A.)
Vanderbilt University (PhD)
GenrePolitical Science

She is also the co-author, with Stephen Macedo, of In Covid's Wake: How Our Politics Failed Us,[8] which was listed as a best non-fiction book of 2025 by The Economist,[9] The Wall Street Journal, and The New Yorker.[10]

Lee is a professor of politics and public affairs at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University.[11]

Early life and aducation

edit

Lee was born in Anniston, Alabama, and grew up in Alabama and Mississippi. She graduated from Petal High School in Petal, Mississippi, and was inducted into the Petal High School Academic Hall of Fame in 2012.[12]

Lee graduated with honors from the University of Southern Mississippi with a B.A. in English in 1991. In 1997, she completed her PhD in political science at Vanderbilt University. Her doctoral dissertation, "The enduring consequences of the Great Compromise: Senate apportionment and congressional policymaking," was supervised by Bruce I. Oppenheimer.[13]

Career

edit 
Lee taught at Case Western Reserve University and then the University of Maryland, College Park.[citation needed]

She is associate editor of the American Journal of Political Science (as of 2025). Lee was the first editor of Cambridge University Press's American Politics Elements Series.[14] From 2014 to 2019, she was co-editor of Legislative Studies Quarterly.[15]

Awards and honors

edit

Lee's awards include the Richard F. Fenno, Jr. Award for Political Inquiry, presented by the University of Rochester in 2024, and the chair in Congressional Policymaking at the John W. Kluge Center, Library of Congress, in 2019.[citation needed] Her book awards include the American Political Science Association (APSA) Gladys M. Kammerer Award (Best Publication on American National Policy) in 2021 (with James M. Curry),[16] the APSA Richard F. Fenno Award (Best Book in Legislative Studies) in 2009,[17] and the D.B. Hardeman Prize (Best Book on Congress) from the Lyndon Baines Johnson Foundation (1999 and 2009). Her dissertation was awarded the APSA E. E. Schattschneider Award (Best Dissertation in American Politics) in 1997.[citation needed]

In 2019, she was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences,[18] and, in 2024, to the American Academy of Sciences and Letters.[19]

Selected works

edit

Books

edit
  • Frances E. Lee and Bruce I. Oppenheimer. 1999. Sizing Up the Senate: The Unequal Consequences of Equal Representation. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
  • Frances E. Lee. 2009. Beyond Ideology: Politics, Principles and Partisanship in the U.S. Senate. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
  • Eric Schickler and Frances E. Lee, eds. 2011. The Oxford Handbook of the American Congress. New York: Oxford University Press. Selected by Choice, the American Library Association's reviews publication, as one of its top 25 outstanding academic titles for 2012. Part of the Oxford Handbooks of Political Science series
  • Frances E. Lee 2016. Insecure Majorities: Congress and the Perpetual Campaign. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
  • Frances E. Lee and Nolan McCarty, eds. 2019. Can America Govern Itself? New York: Cambridge University Press.
  • James M. Curry and Frances E. Lee. 2020. The Limits of Party: Congress and Lawmaking in a Polarized Era. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
  • Roger H. Davidson, Walter J. Oleszek, Frances E. Lee, Eric Schickler, and James M. Curry. 2025. Congress and Its Members, 20th ed. Thousand Oaks: Sage.
  • Stephen Macedo and Frances Lee. 2025. In Covid's Wake: How Our Politics Failed Us. Princeton University Press.
  • Frances Lee. 2026. A Case for Congress. University of Oklahoma Press.

Other publications

edit
  • Frances E. Lee. 2000. "Senate Representation and Coalition Building in Distributive Politics,” American Political Science Review, 94 (March) 59–72.
  • Frances E. Lee. 2003. "Geographic Politics in the U.S. House of Representatives: Coalition Building and Distribution of Benefits,” American Journal of Political Science 47 (November): 713–727. September 2018, p. 3
  • Frances E. Lee. 2004. "Bicameral Institutions and Geographic Politics: Allocating Federal Funds for Transportation in the House and Senate,” Legislative Studies Quarterly 24 (May): 185–214.
  • Frances E. Lee. 2008. "Agreeing to Disagree: Agenda Content and Senate Partisanship, 1981–2004.” Legislative Studies Quarterly 33 (May): 199–222.
  • Frances E. Lee. 2008. "Dividers, Not Uniters: Presidential Leadership and Senate Partisanship, 1981–2004” Journal of Politics 70 (October): 914–928.
  • Frances E. Lee. 2013. "Presidents and Party Teams: The Politics of Debt Limits and Executive Oversight, 2001–2013,” Presidential Studies Quarterly 43 (4): 775–791.
  • Frances E. Lee. 2015. “How Party Polarization Affects Governance,” Annual Review of Political Science 18 (June): 261–282.
  • Frances E. Lee. 2016. “Patronage, Logrolls, and Polarization: Congressional Parties of the Gilded Age, 1876–1896.” Studies in American Political Development 30: 116–127.
  • Frances E. Lee. 2018. “The 115th Congress and Questions of Party Unity in a Polarized Era.” Journal of Politics.

Editorial service

edit
As Editor
  • American Journal of Political Science (Associate Editor) (2025- )
  • Chicago Studies in American Politics, University of Chicago Press (Series editor) (2018- )
  • Legislative Studies Quarterly (Co-editor) (2014–2019)
  • Elements Series in American Politics, Cambridge University Press (Founding editor) (2017–2025)
Editorial boards

Media

edit
  • Interview with Ezra Klein of Vox Media about gridlock.[20]
  • Ezra Klein Show, "Why bipartisanship is irrational."[21]
  • Interview on C-SPAN discussing majoritarian rule in the Senate.
  • Frances E. Lee. "Repeal-and-Replace Is Probably Doomed. Congress Rarely Works Along Party Lines," The Washington Post, July 21, 2017.[22]
  • James M. Curry and Frances E. Lee. "A Senate Majority is Overrated. (We Checked.)," The New York Times, November 18, 2020.[23]
  • Frances E. Lee and James M. Curry. "What’s Really Holding the Democrats Back," The Atlantic, April 23, 2021.[24]
  • James M. Curry and Frances E. Lee. "There’s a Curse in Washington, and the Party in Control Can’t Seem to Shake It," The New York Times, October 13, 2021.[25]
  • Interview on New Books in Political Science Podcast, October 6, 2021.[26]

References

edit
  1. ↑ Lee, Frances E. (2026). A case for Congress. The Julian J. Rothbaum distinguished lecture series. Norman, [Oklahoma]: University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 978-0-8061-9675-6.
  2. ↑ Curry, James M.; Lee, Frances E. (2020). The limits of party: Congress and lawmaking in a polarized era. Chicago studies in American politics. Chicago (Mich.): The university of Chicago press. ISBN 978-0-226-71621-3.
  3. ↑ Lee, Frances E. (2016). Insecure majorities: Congress and the perpetual campaign. Chicago London: The University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-40904-7.
  4. ↑ Homans, Charles (January 27, 2019). "Mitch McConnell got everything he wanted". The New York Times Magazine. p. 39.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  5. ↑ Lee, Frances E. (2009). Beyond ideology: politics, principles, and partisanship in the U.S. Senate. Chicago ; London: The University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-47074-0.
  6. ↑ "Google Scholar". Scholar.google.com.
  7. ↑ Davidson, Roger H.; Oleszek, Walter J.; Lee, Frances E.; Schickler, Eric; Curry James M. (November 2025). Congress and its members (20th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA. ISBN 1071981935. OCLC 961410670.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  8. ↑ Macedo, Stephen; Lee, Frances E. (2025). In Covid's wake: how our politics failed us. Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-26713-5.
  9. ↑ "Economist: The Best Books of 2025". www.yearendlists.com. November 21, 2025. Retrieved May 19, 2026.
  10. ↑ "Books by Princeton Humanities Faculty Make 'Best-Of 2025' Lists —". humanities.princeton.edu. Retrieved May 19, 2026.
  11. ↑ "Frances E. Lee". scholar.princeton.edu. Retrieved June 7, 2020.
  12. ↑ "Academic Hall of Fame - Petal School District". www.petalschools.com. May 6, 2025. Retrieved May 19, 2026.
  13. ↑ Lee, Frances. "The enduring consequences of the Great Compromise: Senate apportionment and congressional policymaking". catalog.library.vanderbilt.edu. Retrieved June 7, 2020.
  14. ↑ "American Politics". Cambridge.org.
  15. ↑ Brian Crisp; Christopher Kam; Thad Kousser; Frances E. Lee (eds.). "General & Introductory Political Science". Legislative Studies Quarterly. 43. eISSN 1939-9162. ISSN 0362-9805.
  16. ↑ ""James M. Curry and Frances Lee Receive 2021 Gladys M. Kammerer Award"". Political Science Now. September 30, 2021.
  17. ↑ "Frances Lee". Gvpt.umd.edu. Archived from the original on December 23, 2015.
  18. ↑ "Frances E. Lee". American Academy of Arts & Sciences. Retrieved June 7, 2020.
  19. ↑ [academysciencesletters.org/members/?_paged=9 "American Academy of Sciences and Letters"]. Retrieved May 27, 2026. {{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help)
  20. ↑ "Why presidential leadership can't solve gridlock". Youtube.com.
  21. ↑ "Why bipartisanship is irrational".
  22. ↑ Frances E. Lee (July 21, 2017). "Repeal-and-replace is probably doomed. Congress rarely works along party lines". Washingtonpost.com.
  23. ↑ Curry, James M.; Lee, Frances E. (November 18, 2020). ""A Senate Majority is Overrated. (We Checked.)" The New York Times, Nov. 18, 2021". The New York Times.
  24. ↑ ""What's Really Holding the Democrats Back," The Atlantic, April 23, 2021". The Atlantic. April 23, 2021.
  25. ↑ Curry, James M.; Lee, Frances E. (October 13, 2021). ""There's a Curse in Washington, and the Party in Control Can't Seem to Shake It." The New York Times, October 13, 2021". The New York Times.
  26. ↑ "James M. Curry and Frances E. Lee, "The Limits of Party: Congress and Lawmaking in a Polarized Era" (U Chicago Press, 2020)". October 6, 2021.

Further reading

edit
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Frances_E._Lee&oldid=1358639275"