He earned his Ph.D. from the Department of Government at University of Texas at Austin in 2002 and his B.A. from the Department of Political Science and the Department of Economics from the University of Wisconsin at Madison in 1993. His primary areas of research include developing political economy models of party and ideological polarization in the U.S. Congress, the effects of income inequality in the U.S, and congressional apportionment. His articles have been published in journals such as The Journal of Politics, International Organization, Perspective on Politics, and American Political Research.