What is public scholarship?

Public scholarship is a broad mix of scholarly activities that are intended for non academic audiences. In other words, it is research with a public facing component.

Public scholarship includes: collaborating with community partners, political and social activism, contributing to public debates, and civic engagement.

Although they overlap, my public scholarship falls into three broad categories: expert analysis, media, and student research. I provide examples of each below. A complete list is on my CV.

Expert Analysis

Redistricting Litigation

I was retained by the ACLU from 2021-2022 to analyze South Carolina’s redrawn legislative and congressional districts in a racial gerrymandering lawsuit (South Carolina NAACP v. Alexander). I authored three reports, provided deposition testimony, and testified at trial as a qualified expert. Plaintiffs secured a settlement prior to trial in the state legislative phase, winning an agreement that redrew several districts. A summary is available here. In the congressional phase, the district court ruled for the plaintiffs, ordering the state to redraw the 1st district. A copy of the findings of fact and conclusions of law is here. In 2024 the US Supreme Court overturned the decision.

Needs Assessment

In the spring of 2024 I helped conduct a needs assessment on behalf of the Charleston County Public Library (CCPL) and the Joseph P. Riley Jr. Center for Livable Communities. The focus in this analysis and report was the digital & technology needs of library patrons. Specifically, CCPL senior leadership wanted to know what digital and technology services to offer and at what branches—from patrons with basic computing needs to those wanting instruction on advanced software and emerging technologies. My contribution to the project included performing the statistical analysis and helping to develop the report. A copy of the CCPL report is here.

Media

Charleston County Sales Tax Op/Ed

I published an op/ed with Christian Wright (a student at the College of Charleston) on the defeat of Charleston County’s transportation sales tax in the 2024 election. For this piece we collected data on the county’s 182 precincts, comparing the election result in each precinct to demographic and geographic factors. We found that the measure was defeated due to a broad mix of factors, from partisan divisions and environmental concerns to the geographic distribution of infrastructure projects. Our op/ed was published in the Post & Courier.

This Week in South Carolina

In the lead up to the 2020 Democratic primary, Gibbs Knotts and I joined Gavin Jackson on This Week in South Carolina. We discussed our book “First in the South: Why South Carolina’s Presidential Primary Matters.” During the 30 minute interview we touched on a range of topics: from the history of the South Carolina primary and how the state became the first southern contest to the keys to winning South Carolina and which candidates we expected to do well. SCETV is the state’s public education network and is a PBS-affiliate. An archive of the interview is available on the PBS website.

Student Research

Exit Polling in Charleston

At the College of Charleston, I supervise the American Politics Research Team, a collaborative research program between faculty and students. One of our activities is to conduct exit polling in the Charleston area during key elections. For example, in 2019 a team of about a dozen students collected exit polls from a representative group of voters during Charleston’s mayoral election. Before heading into the field, we spent considerable time reviewing our sampling methodology and survey design. Ultimately, we correctly predicted the results of the election to within two percentage points and identified key issues in the minds of voters. A copy of our op/ed with the key findings is available here.

Donald Trump’s GOP Support

I have worked on several projects with students over the years, publishing about a half dozen articles. One recent article (with Lauren Johnson and Deon McCray) examined Donald Trump’s support among his Republican copartisans in Congress. First, we examine data since the 1960s to put Trump’s Republiacn support in Congress in context. Second, we conduct a statistical analysis to identify the factors that explain why Republican lawmakers supported or opposed Donald Trump’s legislative agenda. We conclude the paper with a discussion of Trump’s role in reshaping the Republican Party. Our paper was published in the journal Perspectives on Politics.