Boris Shor

Associate Professor, Department of Political Science and Hobby School of Public Affairs, University of Houston

PGH 396, 3551 Cullen Blvd, Houston, TX 77204

bshor@uh.edu  ·  bshor.github.io  ·  Google Scholar  ·  PDF version

APPOINTMENTS

University of Houston

  • Pauline Yelderman Chair, Department of Political Science (2024–2027)

  • Associate Professor, Department of Political Science (2019–Current)

  • Associate Professor (joint appointment), Hobby School of Public Affairs (2024–Current)

  • Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science (2016–2019)

Georgetown University

  • Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of Government (2014–2016)

University of Chicago

  • Assistant Professor, Irving B. Harris Graduate School of Public Policy Studies (2005–2014)

University of California, Berkeley

  • Visiting Scholar, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Scholar in Health Policy (2011–2013)

Princeton University

  • Visiting Research Scholar, Center for the Study of Democratic Politics, Woodrow Wilson School of International and Public Affairs (2004–2005)

EDUCATION

Columbia University, Ph.D. and M.A. Degrees, Political Science Department, 2006

  • Dissertation: The Consequences of Institutions: The Political Geography of Federal Expenditures

  • Committee: Andrew Gelman (Political Science and Statistics), Nolan McCarty (Politics Department and Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University)

PUBLICATIONS

Journals

20. “Out of Step, Out of Party: Party Switching in American State Legislatures”, Legislative Studies Quarterly (Accepted July 2026, Forthcoming), Boris Shor.

19. “Are State Legislative Leaders Moderates?”, Legislative Studies Quarterly (Accepted July 2025, Published November 2025), Boris Shor.

18. “Comparing Leviathans: Agenda Influence in State Legislatures, 2011 to 2023”, Journal of Political Institutions and Political Economy (Accepted November 2023, Published February 2024), Boris Shor and Michael R. Kistner.

17. “Can Pigou at the Polls Stop Us Melting the Poles? A Postmortem Analysis of Washington State’s Carbon Tax Initiatives”, Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists (Accepted September 2022, Published July 2023), Soren T. Anderson, Ioana Marinescu, Boris Shor.

16. “Two Decades of Polarization in American State Legislatures”, Journal of Political Institutions and Political Economy (Accepted June 2021, Published 2022), Boris Shor and Nolan McCarty.

15. “Has the Top Two Primary Elected More Moderates?”, Perspectives on Politics (Accepted May 2017, Published December 2017), Eric McGhee and Boris Shor.

14. “Geography, Uncertainty, and Polarization”, Political Science Research and Methods (Accepted May 2017, Published March 2018), Nolan McCarty, Jonathan Rodden, Boris Shor, Christopher Tausanovitch, Christopher Warshaw.

13. “Ideology, Party and Opinion: Explaining Individual ACA Implementation Votes in the States”, State Politics and Policy Quarterly (Accepted April 2017, Published September 2018), Boris Shor.

12. “Reform and Representation: Assessing California’s Top-Two Primary and Redistricting Commission”, Political Science Research and Methods (Online November 2016, Published October 2018), Thad Kousser, Justin H. Phillips, Boris Shor.

11. “Do Moderate Voters Weigh Candidates’ Ideologies? Voters’ Decision Rules in the 2010 Congressional Elections”, Political Behavior (Online August 2016, Published March 2017), James Adams, Erik Engstrom, Danielle Joesten, Walter Stone, Jon Rogowski, Boris Shor.

10. “Ideology and the Congressional Vote”, Political Science Research and Methods (Accepted June 2016, Published April 2018), Boris Shor and Jon Rogowski.

9. “Ideology, Learning, and Policy Diffusion: Experimental Evidence”, American Journal of Political Science (Online July 2015, Published January 2017), Daniel M. Butler, Craig Volden, Adam Dynes, Boris Shor.

8. “Polarization without Parties: Term Limits and Legislative Partisanship in Nebraska’s Unicameral Legislature”, State Politics and Policy Quarterly (Online December 2014, Published March 2015), Seth E. Masket and Boris Shor (PDF).

7. “Party Competition, Party Polarization, and the Changing Demand for Lobbying in the American States”, American Politics Research (Online November 2014, Published March 2015), Virginia Gray, John Cluverius, Jeffrey J. Harden, Boris Shor, David Lowery.

6. “A Primary Cause of Partisanship? Nomination Systems and Legislator Ideology”, American Journal of Political Science (April 2014), Eric McGhee, Seth E. Masket, Boris Shor, Steven Rogers, Nolan McCarty.

5. “Red State/Blue State Divisions in the 2012 Presidential Election”, The Forum (February 2013), Avi Feller, Andrew Gelman, Boris Shor.

4. “The Ideological Mapping of American Legislatures”, American Political Science Review (August 2011), Boris Shor and Nolan McCarty.

3. “A Bridge to Somewhere: Mapping State and Congressional Ideology on a Cross-Institutional Common Space”, Legislative Studies Quarterly (August 2010), Boris Shor, Christopher Berry, Nolan McCarty.

2. “Rich State, Poor State, Red State, Blue State: What’s the Matter with Connecticut?”, Quarterly Journal of Political Science (November 2007), Andrew Gelman, Boris Shor, Joseph Bafumi, David Park.

1. “A Bayesian Multilevel Modeling Approach to Time-Series Cross-Sectional Data”, Political Analysis (Spring 2007), Boris Shor, Joseph Bafumi, Luke Keele, David Park.

Monographs

Red State, Blue State, Rich State, Poor State: Why Americans Vote the Way They Do (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2009), Andrew Gelman, David Park, Boris Shor, Jeronimo Cortina [1st ed 2007, 2nd ed 2009]

Edited Volumes

“How US States are Polarized and Getting More Polarized”, in Political Polarization in American Politics [2015] (Bloomsbury, Editors: Daniel J. Hopkins and John Sides), Boris Shor.

“State Legislative Polarization in America’s State Legislatures”, in American Gridlock: The Sources, Character, and Impact of Political Polarization [2015] (Cambridge University Press, Editors: James Thurber and Antoine Yoshinaka), Boris Shor.

“Party Polarization in America’s State Legislatures: An Update”, in The State of the Parties: The Changing Role of Contemporary American Parties [2014] (Rowman & Littlefield, Editors: John Green, Daniel Coffey, David Cohen), Boris Shor.

GRANTS

  • PI, Energy Transition Institute, 2023-2024 ($95,160)

  • PI, Russell Sage Foundation, 2019-2024 ($174,998)

  • Co-PI, Kleinman Center for Energy Policy (University of Pennsylvania), 2018-2019 ($15,000)

  • PI, UH Division of Research Small Grant Award, 2018-2019 ($4,500)

  • Co-PI, Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law (Stanford), 2017 ($10,000)

  • Co-PI, Laura and John Arnold Foundation, 2013-2015 ($157,856)

  • PI, Center for the American Governor (Rutgers University) 2013-2014 ($5,000)

  • Co-PI, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Pilot Grant, 2012 ($12,000)

  • Co-PI, Murray Weidenbaum Center on the Economy, Government, and Public Policy at Washington University in St. Louis, 2012 ($49,333)

  • Co-PI, National Science Foundation, Political Science Program, “Collaborative Research: The Ideological Mapping of American Legislatures”; 2011-2014 ($434,451)

  • PI, Dean’s Grant for Survey Research, 2008 ($22,000)

  • PI, Program on Political Institutions Research Grant, 2007 ($2,500)

HONORS

IN PROGRESS

Book Manuscript

  • Large Language Models for Public Opinion Research, with Ryan Kennedy and Amanda Austin (graduate student), Cambridge University Press Elements. Estimated completion: June 2026.

Under Review

Working Papers

  • “Inference, Memory, or Stereotypes? Understanding LLM Roleplaying of Policy Opinions”, Amanda Austin (graduate student), Ryan Kennedy, and Boris Shor

  • “Health Policy Reform in the 50 States, 2011-2023”, Boris Shor

Dormant Papers

  • “Presidential Endorsements by State Legislators in the 2016 Presidential Contest”, Boris Shor and Gregory Koger

  • “Primary Electorates vs. Party Elites: Who are the Polarizers?”, Seth Masket and Boris Shor

DATA

  • Dataverse page: http://dvn.iq.harvard.edu/dvn/dv/bshor

  • State legislative ideology data, 1993-2022

    • Total Downloads from Dataverse since 2012: 19,700

    • Last update: January 2025

  • Individual level state legislator ideology data, 1993-2022

    • Total Downloads from Dataverse since 2012: 12,500

    • Last update: January 2025

SOFTWARE

INVITED

Talks

  • Truman School of Government and Public Affairs, University of Missouri (2026)

  • Political Science Department, Rutgers University (2023)

  • Political Science Department, Rowan University (2022)

  • Political Science Department, University of Miami (2019)

  • Political Science Department, Brigham Young University (2018)

  • Political Science Department, Duke University (2017)

  • Political Science Department, University of Washington (2016)

  • Political Science Department, Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM) (2015)

  • Political Science Department, University of New Mexico (2015)

  • Political Science Department, University at Buffalo (2014)

  • Political Science Department, Temple University (2014)

  • American Politics Speaker Series, Texas A&M (2014)

  • American Politics Workshop, University of Maryland College Park (2014)

  • American Politics Workshop, Stanford University (2013)

  • American Politics Seminar, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2013)

  • OLLI Talk on Polarization, University of California Berkeley (2013)

  • Methods Workshop, University of Rochester (2012)

  • School of Public Health, University of California Berkeley (2012)

  • American Politics Workshop, University of North Carolina (2011)

  • American Politics/Methods Workshop, Stanford University (2010)

  • Methodology Seminar, Princeton University (2010)

  • Visiting Committee of the Harris School, University of Chicago (2008)

  • Annual Harper Lecture, Los Angeles and San Diego (2008)

  • Quantitative Social Science Workshop, Columbia University (2007)

  • American Politics Workshop, University of Chicago (2006)

  • Political Economy Workshop, University of Chicago (2006)

  • Political Economy Workshop, Columbia University (2006)

Small Conferences

  • Energy Transition Institute Conference on Climate Change, University of Houston (2024)

  • Bedrosian Center Program on Political Institutions, Symposium on the Anniversary of Legislative Leviathan, University of Southern California (2023)

  • Conference on Electoral Competition, Interest Groups, and Polarization, Trinity University (2022)

  • Bedrosian Center Program on Political Institutions, Political Polarization Symposium, University of Southern California (2021)

  • Polarization Conference in honor of Keith Poole, University of Georgia (2017)

  • National Institute for Civic Discourse (2017)

  • Representation in State Legislatures, University of Houston (2016)

  • Symposium on Political Polarization, Thomas Foley Institute, Washington State University (2016)

  • Center on the American Governor, Rutgers University (2014)

  • Understanding Gubernatorial Behavior Conference, Washington University and University of Houston (2014)

  • Political Polarization and Partisan Change Conference, American University (2014)

  • State of the Parties Conference, University of Akron (2014)

  • Polarization: Causes and Consequences, Hewlett Foundation (2013)

  • Center on the American Governor, Rutgers University (2013)

  • Council of State Governments-Eastern Regional Conference, Featured Speaker (2013)

  • Conference on Legislative Gridlock, New York University (2011)

CONFERENCES ORGANIZED

  • Conference on Parties in American Legislatures, January 2023

  • McGovern Lecture and Conference on Looking back at The Affordable Care Act, Spring 2022

  • Health Politics and Policy at the Crossroads in the Trump Era – University of Houston, October 2017

  • New Applications in Ideal Point Estimation – Harris School, University of Chicago, April 2009

TEACHING

University of Houston

Undergraduate

  • POLS 3375 – Health Care Policy and Politics (2020-2023)

  • POLS 3319 – Politics of Social Policy (2016-2025)

  • POLS 1337/GOVT 2305 – American and Texas Government II (2018-2026)

Graduate

  • POLS 6309 – American Politics Field Survey (2019, 2021, 2026)

  • POLS 6394 – Data Science for Social Scientists (2026)

  • POLS 6316 – Health Care Politics and Policy (2024)

  • POLS 6360 – State Politics (2023)

  • POLS 6366 – Political Parties (2017)

University of Michigan ICPSR

  • Data and Model Visualization in R 101 (2019-2026)

  • Data and Model Visualization in R 201 (2024-2026)

University of North Carolina Odum Institute

  • Data Visualization for Social Science Research (2025-26)

  • Data Matters: Introduction to Effective Information Visualization (2026)

Georgetown University

  • State Politics and Policy – Undergraduate (2014, 2016)

  • American Politics MA Field Survey (2015)

  • Introduction to American Politics – Undergraduate (2015)

  • Politics of Health Policy – Undergraduate (2015, 2016)

  • Politics of Health Policy – Graduate (2015)

  • American Politics PhD Field Survey (2014)

University of Chicago

  • State Politics and Policy – Graduate (2007, 2009)

  • Public Opinion, Elections and Policy (2009, 2010, 2011, 2013)

  • Ideology, Party, and Policy (2009, 2010, 2011, 2013)

  • Core Course on Organization Theory (2006, 2007, 2008)

  • Distributive Politics (2006, 2007, 2009)

SERVICE

Discipline

  • Editor, Research & Politics, (2025-)

  • Council Member, APSA Public Policy Section (2021-2025)

  • Webmaster, APSA Organized Section on State Politics (2018-2019)

  • APSA Organized Section on Legislative Studies, Chair of the 2017 CQ Press Award Committee

  • APSA Organized Section on State Politics Council Member (2015-2017)

  • Dissertation Award Committee, APSA Organized Section on State Politics (2014)

  • Reviewer for American Political Science Review, American Journal of Political Science, Journal of Politics, Political Analysis, State Politics and Policy Quarterly, American Politics Research, Legislative Studies Quarterly, Policy Studies Journal, Political Research Quarterly, Political Behavior

  • Panel Discussant and/or Chair: Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, Annual Meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association, State Politics and Policy Conference

University of Houston

  • Taught an “Introduction to the Texas Legislature” seminar to outgoing School of Social Work state legislative interns under the direction of Associate Dean Dr. Suzanne Pritzker (2017-2023)

  • Planning committee on UH Energy Institute Conference on Hydrogen Transition (2024)

University of Houston College of Liberal Arts and Social Science

  • University of Houston CLASS Research and Scholarship Committee (2021-2023)

  • University of Houston CLASS Academic Honesty Grievance Committee (2017-2018)

University of Houston Political Science

  • Executive Committee (2021-2023, 2025-2026)

  • American Politics Search Committee (2018, 2021, 2025)

  • Artificial Intelligence Policy Committee (2026)

  • Graduate Committee (2024)

  • Ad Hoc Award Committee (2024)

  • Core American Course Government Committee (Chair, 2022-2023)

  • Hobby School Public Policy BA/BS Coordinating Committee (2019-2020)

  • Ad Hoc Committee on Department Relationship with the Hobby School (2019-2020)

  • Technology Committee (chair) (2018-2021)

  • Outreach Committee (2016-2018)

  • Founder and maintainer of Departmental Twitter Account (@UHPoliticalSci) (2016-2021)

  • University of Houston Dissertation Committee for Phil Waggoner (2017-2018, now at University of Chicago)

Hobby School of Public Affairs

  • State and Local Politics Search Committee (2025-2026)

  • Hobby School Research Committee (2024)

  • Presidential Faculty Fellowship Faculty Search Committee (2023-24)

Harris School of Public Policy

  • Harris School MPP Admissions Committee (2011)

  • Harris School PhD Committee (2006-2010)

  • University of Chicago MAPPS Masters’ Thesis Advisor, Mateusz Tomkowiak

  • Harris School PhD Dissertation Advisor, Jorge Fabrega (now Assistant Professor at Universidad Adolfo Ibanez, Santiago, Chile)

  • Harris School Political Economy PhD comprehensive examination committee (2005-2007)

  • Harris School Organizations, Institutions, and Management Concentration Advisor (2006-8)

  • Harris School Political Economy and American Politics Search Committee (2005-6)

CONFERENCE PAPERS

  • State Politics and Policy Conference (2026, 2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2007)

  • Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association (2026, 2024, 2022, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2004, 2003, 2002)

  • Annual Meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association (2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2004, 2003)

  • Annual Meeting of the Southern Political Science Association (2020, 2019, 2025)

  • National Capital Area Political Science Association Conference (2015)

  • Annual Meeting of the Political Methodology Section (2003)

  • Annual Meeting of the Western Politics Association (2003)

MEMBERSHIPS

  • American Political Science Association

  • APSA sections: State Politics and Policy, Legislative Studies, Public Policy, Political Methodology, Political Parties

  • Midwest Political Science Association

  • Southern Political Science Association

MEDIA INTERVIEWS AND MENTIONS

  • Newspapers and magazines: New York Times, Washington Post, Congressional Quarterly, The American Prospect, The Economist, Houston Chronicle, Columbia Journalism Review, Sacramento Bee, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, US News & World Report

  • Podcasts: Democracy Works, Ballotpedia (scheduled), Not Another Politics Podcast

  • Online: Vox.com, FiveThirtyEight.com, Bloomberg View

  • Television: WTTW and WNBC (Chicago)

  • Radio: WDEL and RFE/RL

  • See http://research.bshor.com/press and http://americanlegislatures.wordpress.com/press