Navigating gridlock: Congress, the presidency, and partisanship

David Brady holds the Bowen H. and Janice Arthur McCoy Professor of Political Science in the Stanford Graduate School of Business and is the Davies Family Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution.  He has published seven books and more than a hundred papers in journals and books.  Among his most recent books are Leadership and Growth(World Bank Publications, 2010) with Michael Spence, Revolving Gridlock: Politics and Policy from Carter to Bush II(Westview Press, 2006), and Red and Blue Nation? Characteristics and Causes of America’s Polarized Politicswith Pietro Nivola (Brookings Institution Press, 2007).

Tom Davis serves as managing director of government relations for Deloitte Consulting. He was first elected to office in 1979, serving on the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors. In 1994, he was elected to Congress to represent the 11th Congressional District of Virginia. Throughout his 14 years in Congress, he was widely recognized as a skilled legislator and an honest broker. At Deloitte, Davis continues his effort to bring effective, common-sense solutions to government.

Juliet Eilperin is The Washington Post's senior national affairs correspondent, covering domestic policy and the transformation of the federal government. She is the author of two books: Fight Club Politics: How Partisanship is Poisoning the House of Representatives and Demon Fish: Travels Through the Hidden World of Sharks. She has worked for The Post since 1998, having served as The Post’s House of Representatives correspondent, national environmental reporter, and White House bureau chief. 

Maggie Haberman is a New York Times White House correspondent and was part of a team that won a Pulitzer Prize in 2018. Before joining The Times as a campaign correspondent, she worked as a political reporter at Politico, from 2010 to 2015. She previously worked at other publications, including The New York Post and The New York Daily News.

Jennifer Lawless is the Commonwealth Professor of Politics at the University of Virginia. Prior to joining the UVA faculty, she was a professor of government at American University and the director of the Women & Politics Institute. Before that, she was an assistant and then associate professor at Brown University. Her research focuses on political ambition, campaigns and elections, and media and politics. She is the author or co-author of six books, including Women on the Run: Gender, Media, and Political Campaigns in a Polarized Era(with Danny Hayes) and It Still Takes a Candidate: Why Women Don't Run for Office(with Richard L. Fox).

Chris Lu is the Miller Center's Teresa A. Sullivan Senior Fellow. He has worked in all three branches of the federal government, including seven years in the Obama Administration. From 2014 to 2017, Lu was the deputy secretary of labor, having been confirmed unanimously by the U.S. Senate. From 2009 to 2013, Lu was the White House cabinet secretary and assistant to the president, serving as the president’s primary liaison to the federal agencies. 

John McLaughlin has worked professionally as a strategic consultant and pollster for over 30 years. During this time, he has earned a reputation for helping some of America’s most successful corporations and winning some of the toughest elections in the nation. His political clients have included former Presidential candidates Steve Forbes and Fred Thompson, former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, Georgia Governor Nathan Deal and 22 current and former U.S. Senators and 20 current Republican members of Congress.  

Doug Rivers is one of the world’s leading experts on survey research and a successful Silicon Valley entrepreneur. He has taught at Harvard University, Caltech, UCLA, and, most recently, Stanford University, where he is professor of political science and senior fellow at the Hoover Institution. Doug has founded two successful technology companies, Preview Systems and Knowledge Networks. He has been named Executive of the Year (2000) by Research Business Report and received the Innovator's Award by the American Association of Public Opinion Research (2001).

Marc Short is a practioner senior fellow at the Miller Center. He previously served as White House director of legislative and intergovernmental affairs and assistant to President Donald J. Trump. He has also served as chief of staff to Vice President Mike Pence. His other public service included roles as a spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security; chief of staff for Republican Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison; and an aide to then-Congressman Mike Pence, who named him chief of staff for the House Republican Conference in 2009. 

Dina Titus is the Congresswoman for the First Congressional District of Nevada. Currently in her fourth term in the U.S. House of Representatives, she is a member of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. She is Ranking Member of its Economic Development, Public Buildings, and Emergency Management Subcommittee. She also serves on the Aviation, Highways, and Transit Subcommittee, and the Water Resources and Environment Subcommittee. She sits on the House Foreign Affairs Committee and its Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade, and Asia and the Pacific Subcommittees. 

Mike Franc is the Hoover Institution’s director of DC programs, where he oversees research and outreach initiative. He holds a dual appointment as a research fellow. Prior to joining Hoover, Franc served as policy director and counsel for House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy and served as the Vice President of government relations for the Heritage Foundation from 1997-2013. He also completed a tour of duty as communications director for former House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-TX) and worked for the U.S. Department of Education and the Office of National Drug Control Policy. Franc has a BA from Yale University and a JD from Georgetown University.

Sid Milkis, is the White Burkett Miller Professor of Governance and Foreign Affairs, Cavaliers' Distinguished Teaching Professor, and Professor of Politics. His research focuses on the American presidency, political parties and elections, social movements, and American political development. In addition to teaching undergraduate and graduate students, he regularly gives public lectures on American politics and participates in programs for international scholars and high school teachers that probe the deep historical roots of contemporary developments in the United States.