Research

Books

Thomsen, Danielle M. 2025. The Money Signal: How Fundraising Matters in American Politics. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

  • Over the last two decades, the number of competitive congressional races has declined precipitously. Yet candidates and officeholders dial for more and more dollars each election, and they do so earlier and earlier in the campaign cycle. Why is money seen as so important?

    Prior work has focused on the effect of money on lawmaker behavior and on votes at the ballot box. This book offers a new perspective on the role of money in politics. I show that fundraising matters because it is widely used as an indicator of a candidate’s viability and strength, which shapes subsequent donations, dropout decisions, media attention, and rewards in office. Put simply, money is a focal point that candidates, donors, journalists, and party leaders rally around. For candidates, fundraising is a highly public form of self-presentation that pays dividends long before the election and well after the votes are cast. The book highlights the numerous ways that dollars shape the perceptions and behavior of key actors and observers throughout the election cycle. We have to look beyond the ballot to capture the meaning of money in American politics.

Thomsen, Danielle M. 2017. Opting Out of Congress: Partisan Polarization and the Decline of Moderate Candidates. New York: Cambridge University Press.

  • Scholars have pointed to changes in the American public and changes in party leaders in office to explain the rise in partisan polarization in the U.S. Congress.  My book instead examines ideological changes in the candidates who run for Congress.  The central argument is that moderates opt out of running for office today, further exacerbating the ideological gulf between the parties in Congress.  Liberal Republicans and conservative Democrats are outsiders in both parties, and the personal and professional benefits of congressional service are too low for them to run.  Although the political center has long been deemed a coveted position in the legislature, it is now an increasingly lonely and lowly place to be.  The focus on the supply of congressional candidates sheds light on why polarization has continued to grow unabated and why recent policy reforms have been largely ineffective to date.
  • Reviewed in Choice, Congress & the Presidency, The Forum, Perspectives on Politics, and Political Science Quarterly.
  • Featured in a Monkey Cage op-ed and on C-SPAN Book TV.

Articles

Thomsen, Danielle M. 2025. “Early Money and Strategic Candidate Exit.” Forthcoming at the British Journal of Political Science.

Swers, Michele L. and Danielle M. Thomsen. 2025. “Understanding the Policy Priorities of Republican Women in the US House of Representatives.” Politics & Gender 21(2): 306-332.

Thomsen, Danielle M. 2023. “Competition in Congressional Elections: Money versus Votes.” American Political Science Review 117(2): 675-691.

Treul, Sarah, Danielle M. Thomsen, Craig Volden, and Alan E. Wiseman. 2022. “The Primary Path for Turning Legislative Effectiveness into Electoral Success.” Journal of Politics 84(3): 1714-1726.

Thomsen, Danielle M. and Aaron S. King. 2020. “Women’s Representation and the Gendered Pipeline to Power.” American Political Science Review 114(4): 989-1000.

Thomsen, Danielle M. and Bailey K. Sanders. 2020. “Gender Differences in Legislator Responsiveness.” Perspectives on Politics 18(4): 1017-1030.

Thomsen, Danielle M. 2020. “Ideology and Gender in U.S. House Elections.” Political Behavior 42(2): 415-442.

Thomsen, Danielle M. 2019. “Which Women Win? Partisan Changes in Victory Patterns in U.S. House Elections.” Politics, Groups, and Identities 7(2): 412-428.

Thomsen, Danielle M. 2017. “Joining Patterns Across Party Factions in the U.S. Congress.” The Forum 15(4): 741-751.

Koch, Julianna and Danielle M. Thomsen. 2017. “Gender Equality Mood Across States and Over Time.” State Politics & Policy Quarterly 17(4): 351-360.

Thomsen, Danielle M. and Michele L. Swers. 2017. “Which Women Can Run? Gender, Partisanship, and Candidate Donor Networks.” Political Research Quarterly 70(2): 449-463.

Aldrich, John H. and Danielle M. Thomsen. 2017. “Party, Policy, and the Ambition to Run for Higher Office.” Legislative Studies Quarterly 42(2): 321-343.

Thomsen, Danielle M. 2015. “Why So Few (Republican) Women? Explaining the Partisan Imbalance of Women in the U.S. Congress.” Legislative Studies Quarterly 40(2): 295-323.

Thomsen, Danielle M. 2014. “Ideological Moderates Won’t Run: How Party Fit Matters for Partisan Polarization in Congress.” Journal of Politics 76(3): 786-797.

Work in Progress

“The Advantage of Candidate Wealth in American Elections.” With Ryan Mundy.

“A New Look at Fundraising Disparities: Race, Gender, and Early Money.” With Savannah Plaskon. Winner of the 2024 Best Paper on Intersectionality Award from the Women, Gender, and Politics Research Section.

“Legislative Effectiveness, Progressive Ambition, and Electoral Success.” With Sarah Treul, Craig Volden, and Alan E. Wiseman. Winner of the 2023 SPPQ Best Paper Award.

“The Rural-Urban Political Divide in the U.S. House of Representatives, 1982-2020.” With Trevor Brown and Suzanne Mettler.

“Counting Candidates.”