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Jennifer L. Lawless is the Leone Reaves and George W. Spicer Professor of Politics at the University of Virginia and the Chair of the Politics Department. She also has affiliations with UVA’s Miller Center and the Batten School. Jen’s research focuses on political ambition, campaigns and elections, and media and politics. She is the author or co-author of eight books, including News Hole: The Demise of Local Journalism and Political Engagement (with Danny Hayes) and It Still Takes a Candidate: Why Women Don't Run for Office (with Richard L. Fox). Her research, which has been supported by the National Science Foundation, has appeared in numerous academic journals, and is regularly cited in the popular press. She is the Co-Editor-in-Chief of the American Journal of Political Science and the recipient of the 2023 Shorenstein Center’s Goldsmith Book Prize (for the academic book that examines the intersection among media, politics, and public policy). Jen graduated from Union College with a B.A. in political science, and Stanford University with an M.A. and Ph.D. in political science. A long time ago (2006), she sought the Democratic nomination for the U.S. House of Representatives in Rhode Island’s second congressional district. Although she lost the race, she remains an obsessive political junkie.
““The gender gap can ultimately sway the election,” said Jennifer Lawless, a politics professor at the University of Virginia. “When Democrats exploit it, they win, and when Republicans mitigate it, they win.””
““This is certainly a case where Donald Trump’s saying that he can have his cake and eat it too,” Lawless says. “He can take credit for overturning Roe v. Wade —w which sent this back to the states and created a situation where states can now try to limit IVF - and he then wants to say that that’s not what he did. He’s going to allow for IVF across the board and expand it. And those two things are just completely counter to one another.””
““This kind of language is just more evidence that Donald Trump is out of touch with American women,” said Jennifer Lawless, chair of the politics department at the University of Virginia. “Not only is the sentiment paternalistic, but the fact that he uttered these words while simultaneously berating women for caring about reproductive rights is stunning.””
““Kamala Harris has decided that her identity speaks for itself, both in terms of race and gender,” Lawless said. “And if the Republicans want to attack her on that front, and if they want to try and goad her into identity politics, she’s just not that interested.” ”