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I am an assistant professor of comparative politics in the Department of Political Science at the University of Florida.

My research and teaching experiences coalesce around issues in comparative politics and African politics with specific focus on comparative political institutions, democratization, political behavior, political identity (ethnicity, partisanship, and religion), public opinion, and quantitative research methods. My current research agenda focuses on how multiparty elections in electoral democracies and competitive autocracies shape elite and mass evaluations of political legitimacy.

There are three main avenues of inquiry within this agenda. The first explores the design and performance of electoral management bodies (EMBs) in Africa with an emphasis on how political elites and citizens respond strategically to the autonomy and capacity of EMBs. The second strand of my research examines the relationship between citizens’ campaign and electoral behavior and popular evaluations of political legitimacy. Specifically, I focus on how direct experiences with election management, electoral manipulation, and third-party actors as well as the outcomes of elections influence elite and mass evaluations of 1) election integrity, and 2) the performance of state and regime institutions. The third investigates the motivations of candidates who use courts to challenge electoral outcomes in sub-national elections and the consequences of these challenges for democratic legitimacy.

I have experience conducting fieldwork and organizing surveys in several African countries and my published work has appeared in Comparative Politics, Electoral Studies, Governance, Journal of Modern African Studies, Political Psychology, Political Research Quarterly,  and Political Studies. I have also served as an advisor to several prominent democracy promotion and political development organizations including, Freedom House, International Foundation of Electoral Systems, and National Democratic Institute. I have also been fortunate to observe elections in Ghana (2008) and Nigeria (2011, 2019).

I received my Ph.D. in Political Science from Michigan State University, my B.A. in Economics and Political Science from Williams College, and spent my formative years at Campion College High School in Kingston, Jamaica.

For more information, please see my CV and feel free to contact me at any time.