Gerald Gamm

Professor of Political Science and History University of Rochester

  • Rochester NY

Gamm is an expert in U.S and urban politics

Contact

University of Rochester

View more experts managed by University of Rochester

View all Experts

Spotlight

1 min

As Senate debates Trump's 'Big, Beautiful Bill,' expert Gerald Gamm offers insight

President Donald Trump’s agenda hangs in the balance this week as Senate Republicans race to lock down the votes to pass their major tax and domestic policy bill by the president’s July 4 deadline. Republicans are holding firm against Democrats’ efforts to challenge elements of the measure, particularly its cuts to Medicaid and federal nutrition programs, as well as tax cuts for the wealthy. But the G.O.P. is also witnessing nagging reservations within its own ranks, as fiscal hawks are upset that the bill could pile more than $3 trillion onto the national debt. University of Rochester political scientist Gerald Gamm is watching the deliberations and political maneuverings closely, and is in a unique position to lend insight to reportage on the negotiations. Gamm is a co-author of Steering the Senate (Cambridge University Press, June 2025). The book has received high praise from a multitude of sources, and has been called "essential reading for all who care — or worry — about the past and future of institutional leadership and capacity on Capitol Hill," "the best book we have about the organizational development of the Senate," and "a masterpiece . . . that unearths new information on the emergence of leadership institutions and the role of parties and showing their relevance for the Senate of today." Gamm is available for interviews and can be contacted by email at gerald.gamm@rochester.edu or by clicking on his profile.

Gerald Gamm

Areas of Expertise

Congress
State Politics
U.S. Politics
Urban Politics
State Legislatures

Social

Biography

Gerald Gamm is a professor of political science and history at the University of Rochester and researches American politics, political development, legislatures, parties, and state and local politics. Current research is on Congress, state legislatures, and urban politics. He is the author of two books: The Making of New Deal Democrats (University of Chicago Press, 1989), and Urban Exodus: Why the Jews Left Boston and the Catholics Stayed (Harvard University Press, 1999). There's also a forthcoming book (with Steven S. Smith) on the development of Senate party leadership in the 19th and 20th centuries.

He teaches courses in the fields of American politics and American history.

Education

Harvard University

Ph.D

History and Political Science

1994

Selected Media Appearances

In South Dakota Senate, far-right lawmakers rankle GOP

Washington Post  print

2023-02-09

The conversation between a state senator and a legislative aide started with a seemingly routine discussion about a bill. It suddenly spiraled as the senator allegedly harassed the aide because she had vaccinated her young child, plunging the Senate into a political drama that has divided South Dakota’s Republican Party.

View More

In State Legislatures, Old Rivalries Are Reheated by National Politics

New York Times  print

2023-01-27

Any definition of partisanship, of course, often reflects on which side of the aisle one sits. But urban-rural rivalries have a long history. A forthcoming study of the actions of six state legislatures from 1921 to 1961 — by Professors Thad Kousser and Gerald Gamm of the University of California, San Diego, and the University of Rochester, respectively — finds “clear evidence” that lawmakers deliberately underfunded the cities with more immigrant and nonwhite residents.

View More

Impact of failed House speaker votes felt in Upstate NY

WHAM-13 Rochester  tv

2023-01-05

"Virtually everybody in the Republican party votes for the Republican nominee, and virtually everybody in the Democratic party votes for the democratic nominee," said Gerald Gramm, a political science and history professor at the University of Rochester. "That's how it happened in 1923, but that's not what's happening in 2023."

View More

Show All +

Selected Articles

No Strength in Numbers: The Failure of Big-City Bills in American State Legislatures, 1880-2000

American Political Science Review

with Thad Kousser

Do big cities exert more power than less populous ones in American state legislatures? In many political systems, greater representation leads to more policy gains, yet for most of the nation's history, urban advocates have argued that big cities face systematic discrimination in statehouses. Drawing on a new historical dataset spanning 120 years and 13 states, we find clear evidence that there is no strength in numbers for big-city delegations in state legislatures. District bills affecting large metropolises fail at much higher rates than bills affecting small cities, counties, and villages. Big cities lose so often because size leads to damaging divisions. We demonstrate that the cities with the largest delegations—which are more likely to be internally divided—are the most frustrated in the legislative process. Demographic differences also matter, with district bills for cities that have many foreign-born residents, compared with the state as a whole, failing at especially high rates.

View more

Broad Bills or Particularistic Policy? Historical Patterns in American State Legislatures

American Political Science Review

with Thad Kousser

2010-01-26

When do lawmakers craft broad policies, and when do they focus on narrow legislation tailored to a local interest? We investigate this question by exploring historical variation in the types of bills produced by American state legislatures. Drawing on a new database of 165,000 bills—covering sessions over 120 years in thirteen different states—we demonstrate the surprising prominence of particularistic bills affecting a specific legislator's district. We then develop and test a theory linking the goals of legislators to their propensity to introduce district bills rather than broad legislation. We find that, consistent with our predictions, politicians are more likely to craft policies targeted to a particular local interest when a legislature is dominated by one party or when it pays its members relatively high salaries. These findings provide empirical support for Key's (1949) thesis that one-party politics descends into factionalism and undermines the making of broad public policy.

View more

Pockets of Expertise: Institutional Capacity in Twentieth-Century State Legislatures

American Political Science Review

Nancy Burns, Laura Evans, Corrine McConnaughy

We examine the development of legislative capacity in U.S. state legislatures in the twentieth century. This capacity can be derived from the legislators themselves, or from institutions and practices. We consider both sources as we provide an account of the ragged and piecemeal development of legislative capacity in the states. We argue that most state legislatures have been neither entirely professional nor amateur, but rather have existed somewhere in between, in a place where pockets of expertise fill in for professional capacity.

View more

Powered by