I am a political scientist at Princeton University. I engage questions of whether and how American democracy depends upon its institutional arrangements and the actions of those historically excluded from it. More details are available in my cv.

I am the author of a book on the politics of women’s voting rights–The Woman Suffrage Movement in America: A Reassessment (Cambridge University Press). The central argument of the book is that because suffragists could not promise to deliver the votes of women to a particular political party, women’s voting rights were necessarily won through coalitional politics. With detailed case studies of five states and analysis of the treatment of the woman suffrage issue in the national parties and the US Congress, I show how partnerships with farmers’ organizations, labor unions, and the Populist and Progressive parties were the keys that unlocked the ballot box for women. If you’d like to get a better sense of the book’s argument, evidence, and findings, I invite you to read a piece I wrote about it for The Monkey Cage blog at The Washington Post: Forget Susan B. Anthony. You can also read this Twitter thread for a bit more on my take on the politics of the suffrage movement.

Follow me on Twitter at @cmMcConnaughy.