Vanessa Williamson
PhD Candidate, Department of Government, Harvard University
CGIS Knafel Building, Room K415
1737 Cambridge St.
Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138
(617) 495-2757
Expertise & Civic Involvements
Williamson’s research focuses on the politics of taxation in America. She worked at the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America from 2004 to 2010, serving as their Policy Director from 2007.
SSN Briefs
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Co-Authored with Theda Skocpol, SSN Key Findings, February 2013
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Co-Authored with Alexander Hertel-Fernandez, SSN Basic Facts, November 2012
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Co-Authored with Theda Skocpol, SSN Key Findings, October 2011
Key Publications
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The Tea Party and the Remaking of Republican Conservatism (with ) (Oxford University Press, 2012). Shows how grassroots activism, elite funders and policy advocates, and the right-wing media interact to allow the Tea Party to boost the GOP and prod it to the right. Includes interviews with grass roots activists and an analysis of the role of the Tea Party in the 2010 and 2012 elections.
- "The Tea Party and the Remaking of Republican Conservatism" (with ). Perspectives on Politics 9, no. 1 (2011): 25-43.
Media Contributions
Williamson has been quoted in diverse media outlets, including the Associated Press, the Washington Post, CNN, NPR, McClatchy, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the Guardian, and Mother Jones.
- Vanessa Williamson's (with ) research on their book, "The Tea Party and the Remaking of Republican Conservatism" cited in "The Ten Best Political Books of 2012," The New Yorker, December 14, 2012.
- Interview on The Tea Party and the Remaking of Republican Conservatism, The Rachel Maddow Show, December 9, 2011.
Talks and Briefings
- "We are the 99%: from Frustration to Occupation," (with Marshall Ganz, Todd Gitlen, and the Hon. Ed Rendell), Panel at the Harvard Kennedy School Institute of Politics, October 13, 2011.
- "The Tea Party and the Remaking of Republican Conservatism," Allegheny College Center for Political Participation, September 22, 2011.
- "Media Outreach to Veterans and Access to VA Services," Testimony before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Veterans Affairs, Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, July 15, 2008.