Rachel Augustine Potter

Rachel Augustine Potter is an associate professor of politics and public policy at the University of Virginia, a senior fellow at the Miller Center of Public Affairs, and a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. She is an expert on the administrative state, bureaucratic politics, and executive branch policymaking.

Potter's award-winning first book, Bending the Rules: Procedural Politicking in the Bureaucracy (University of Chicago Press, 2019), examines how bureaucrats use procedural tools to shape the content of federal regulations. Her second book, Going Private: Outsourcing the Administrative State (University of Chicago Press, 2026), examines the consequences of government reliance on private contractors to perform core administrative functions. Her other research has appeared in political science, public policy, public administration, and administrative law journals.

Potter has served as an expert witness before Congress, a consultant to the Administrative Conference of the United States, and as president of the Midwest Public Administration Caucus. Before becoming a political scientist, she worked at the White House Office of Management and Budget, the U.S. Government Accountability Office, and the German Federal Ministry of the Interior.