Weaver has written on topics including race and ethnic politics, immigration, social policy, electoral politics, political psychology, American political development, and the politics of inequality. She is currently completing a book manuscript, Frontlash: Race and the Transformation of American Criminal Policy and Politics, which uncovers a connection between the movement for civil rights and the development of punitive criminal justice. The book grows out of her dissertation, winner of the Best Dissertation Award in Race, Ethnicity, and Politics given by the American Political Science Association. Weaver is also working on a collaborative book project on skin color, multiracialism, and immigration and their implications for racial politics (with Professors Jennifer Hochschild and Traci Burch).