Jordan Ragusa

Associate Professor and Associate Chair

Address: JC Long, 9 Liberty Street, Room 206
Office Hours: By appointment only
Phone: 843.953.5724
E-mail: ragusajm@cofc.edu
Personal Website: https://www.jordanragusa.com
Google Scholar: https://bit.ly/jmr-gs
Curriculum Vitae: Download


Jordan Ragusa joined the department in 2011 and became Associate Chair in 2019.  Ragusa is also the co-director of the College's American Politics Research Team and a research fellow in the Center for Public Choice and Market Process.  Dr. Ragusa’s research and teaching focus on both American and South Carolina politics, the Congress, political parties, elections, political economy, and statistical methods for the social sciences.  Dr. Ragusa earned his Ph.D. and M.A. from the University of Florida.

Ragusa is the author of two books: "Congress in Reverse: Repeals from Reconstruction to the Present" (University of Chicago Press, with Nate Birkhead) and "First in the South: Why the South Carolina Presidential Primary Matters" (University of South Carolina Press, with Gibbs Knotts).  His articles are published in journal such as: Political Research Quarterly, Perspectives on Politics, American Politics Research, Political Science Quarterly, Journal of Political Science, Research & Politics, and the Journal of Elections, Public Opinion, and Parties.

Ragusa’s academic work is complemented by various forms of public scholarship.  He has written op/eds and editorials on topics such as the South Carolina primary, Charleston’s mayoral elections, and the Never Trump movement.  He has also appeared on PBS, NPR, South Carolina Public Radio, This Week in South Carolina, and has been quoted in newspapers like the New Yorker and USA Today.  Finally, Ragusa has consulted for several agencies and non-profits, including working as an expert witness in a recent racial gerrymandering lawsuit in South Carolina. 

Sample Publications

Amira, Karyn, Johnson, Lauren R., Deon McCray, and Jordan M. Ragusa. 2019. "Adversaries or Allies? Donald Trump's Republican Support in Congress" Perspectives on Politics 17(3): 756-71.

Ragusa, Jordan M. 2017. “An Examination of Congressional Efforts to Repeal the Affordable Care Act.” In Lawrence C. Dodd and Bruce Oppenheimer, Congress Reconsidered, Washington, D.C.: CQ Press.

Cooper, Chris, Gibbs Knotts, and Jordan M. Ragusa. 2016. “The Constrained Governor: Gubernatorial Decision-Making and Senate Appointments.” Political Research Quarterly 69 (3): 482-494.

Ragusa, Jordan M., and Anthony Gaspar. 2016. “Where’s the Tea Party? An Examination of the Tea Party’s Voting Behavior in the House of Representatives.” Political Research Quarterly 69 (2): 361-372.

Knotts, Gibbs, and Jordan M. Ragusa. 2016. “The Nationalization of Special Elections for the U.S. House of Representatives.” Journal of Elections, Public Opinion, and Parties 26 (1): 22-39.

Ragusa, Jordan M., and Matthew Tarpey. 2016. “The Geographies of Economic Voting in Presidential and Congressional Elections.” Political Science Quarterly 131(1): 101-132.

Education

Ph.D., University of Florida
M.A., University of Florida
B.S., Bowling Green State University
Field of Specialization:  American politics and research methodology