SoRelle Gaynor University of Virginia

SoRelle Wyckoff Gaynor is an Assistant Professor of Public Policy and Politics at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy at the University of Virginia. Her research focuses on congressional leadership and political parties, institutional reform, and how Congress communicates. Her work has been published in Journal of Politics, Legislative Studies Quarterly, Electoral Studies, and more, as well as public-facing entities like the Washington Post and PS Today.

SoRelle has worked in various capacities throughout Congress, including staff for House Leadership, as a Senate press secretary and speechwriter, and most recently, as an American Political Science Public Service Fellow for House Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress, where she researched and help implement solutions to improve and reform Congress.

She received a bachelor’s degree in journalism and history, with Honors, from the University of Alabama, and her doctorate in Government & Politics from the University of Maryland, College Park in 2021. She lives in Virginia with her husband, Michael, and her sons, James and Lewis.