The Monkey Cage

Jeff Smith, current state senator in Missouri and PhD from Washington University also ran in a congressional primary. And, he almost made it. Good move made about even (Can Mr. Smith Still Go To Washington?).

1. UNC alum David Price. (I didn’t even need to google that one).

2. Does Dick Cheney count?

It might be worth pointing out that Lipinski got his current job in Congress largely because he was the annointed successor to his father, who held the same seat for years. I don’t know if he is a decent political scientist or not, but as a former resident of the 3rd district, I’m quite sure his abilities had little to do with his election.

John Brademas
Steve Horn
Hubert Humphrey, sort of

Bill Thomas?

David Obey has an M.A. in political science. Probably lots of others do, too, though I can’t think of who they might be.

Dave Loebsack (D), US Rep. from Iowa, wa teaching at Cornell College until he beat Jim Leach.

David Price (Duke) serves in Congress, specifically North Carolina’s fourth district.

Sandy Maisel (Colby College) ran for Senate, but lost in a primary. He wrote a very entertaining book about it.

Dick Cheney (who may or may not be in Congress, depending on his interpretation of the moment), has a co-authored piece in the APSR, I think from 1970.

I didn’t look these up, but got my BA from Colby and my PhD from Duke, so I did have an unfair advantage.

PS. Natalie Davis ran for U.S. Senate in Alabama. She is on the faculty at, I think, South Alabama. I used to work for a polling firm and she was one of our clients. She actually helped me choose where to go grad school.

And while not Congress, Mike Munger (one of my diss advisors) is running for Governor in North Carolina.

Because I am a native South Dakotan, I am ashamed to admit that in my earlier replies I neglected to mention that George McGovern has a Ph.D. in “history and government” from Northwestern and taught these two subjects at Dakota Wesleyan before being elected to Congress. He has also done some visiting stints over the years in political science departments, including GW’s.

In 2006, Jen Lawless challenged incumbent Jim Langevin (D-RI) in the primary, and garnered almost 40% of the vote. She has a Stanford Ph.D. and teaches at Brown. Incidentally, her research centers on women and politics — in particular, differences between men and women in their predisposition to run for office — so you might say her campaign was a road-test of her scholarly theories.

Going back a ways, James Macgregor Burns challenged Silvio Conte in western MA, back when Burns taught at Williams, but lost.

Cheney is ABD of course (Wisconsin). Bob Filner D-Ca has PhD in history but was an APSA Congressional Fellow (like Cheney).

Henry Cabot Lodge was famous for many things, but mostly for being the first Government PhD at Harvard.

Rest in peace, Senator Paul Wellstone (D-MN; PhD-UNC).

Another senator Paul, Douglas (D-IL) was an econ PhD, but political scientists have on occasion used his Cobb-Douglas production function. Yes, that’s a stretch. He wrote a few things about filibuster reform that at least three political scientists have read.

And another Democratic senator Paul from Illinois (Simon) was not a political scientist, but wikipedia claims that he “was noted for his distinctive professorial appearance that included a bow-tie and heavy-rimmed glasses.” That is how most of my colleagues dress, though not on casual Fridays.

Another that hasn’t been mentioned is Howard Wolpe former member of the House from Michigan. He also published an article in the APSR.