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Photograph of Candice Nelson

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Candice Nelson Professor Government

Additional Positions at AU
Academic Director, The Campaign Management Institute
Co-Director, MA in Political Communication
Degrees
PhD University of California at Berkeley

MA University of California, Los Angeles

BA Wheaton College

Bio
Candice J. Nelson is a Professor in the Department of Government and the Academic Director of the Campaign Management Institute. She is an expert on presidential and congressional elections, and also studies voting behavior and partisanship. Her most recent book is Campaigns and Elections American Style, 6th ed. (with James A. Thurber and David A. Dulio).
For the Media
To request an interview for a news story, call AU Communications at 202-885-5950 or submit a request.

Teaching

Summer 2024

  • GOVT-020 Campaign Management Institute

Fall 2024

  • GOVT-521 Topics in Campaign Management: Survey Research

  • GOVT-628 Proseminar in Political Comm

Spring 2025

  • COMM-628 Proseminar in Political Comm

  • GOVT-521 Topics in Campaign Management: Evolving the Digital Campaign

  • GOVT-521 Topics in Campaign Management: Paid Poltcl Media: Thry/Pract

Scholarly, Creative & Professional Activities

Research Interests

Congressional and Presidential Elections and Voting Behavior

Selected Publications

  • Campaigns and Elections American Style, 6th ed. (with James A. Thurber and David A. Dulio) Routlege Press, 2024.
  • Grant Park: The Democratization of Presidential Elections 1968-2008, The Brookings Institution, 2011
  • Vital Signs: The Health of American Campaigning (with David Dulio), The Brookings Institution, 2005
  • Campaigns and Elections American Style , ed. (with James Thurber), Westview Press, 2004
  • Shades of Gray: Perspectives on Campaign Ethics , ed. (with David Dulio and Stephen Medvic), Brookings, 2002
  • Campaign Warriors: Political Consultants in Elections , ed. (with James Thurber), Brookings, 2000
  • Crowded Airwaves: Campaign Advertising in Elections , ed. (with James Thurber and David Dulio), Brookings2000
  • The Myth of the Independent Voter (with Keith et. al.), University of California Press, 1992
  • The Money Chase: Congressional Campaign Finance Reform (with David Magleby), Brookings, 1990

AU Experts

Area of Expertise

Congressional elections, presidential elections, voting behavior, and partisanship

Additional Information

Candice Nelson is the academic director of AU's Campaign Management Institute (CMI). For more than two decades CMI has served as a nationally recognized program designed to train individuals for participation in local, state, and federal political campaigns. Developed and taught by strategists from the Republican and Democratic parties, national campaign consultants, and political scientists, the intensive two-week program serves as a valuable foundation for political activists and campaign managers. Nelson also served as a special assistant to former Senate Majority Whip Alan Cranston and as an American Political Science Association Congressional Fellow. Nelson is the author of Grant Park: The Democratization of Presidential Elections: 1968 – 2008. She is a co-author of The Money Chase: Congressional Campaign Finance Reform; The Myth of the Independent Voter; and Vital Signs: Perspectives on the Health of American Campaigning. Nelson is also co-editor of Campaigns and Elections American Style (5th edition, Aug. 2018); Campaign Warriors: Political Consultants in Elections; and Crowded Airwaves: Campaign Advertising in Elections, as well as numerous other articles and books.

For the Media

To request an interview for a news story, call AU Communications at 202-885-5950 or submit a request.

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