I am currently a Ph.D. student in Political Science at Yale University, studying how legislators’ identities influence policymaking and political representation. I am particularly interested in how identity informs communication, deliberation, and constituent engagement, and how these dynamics affect which ideas ultimately become law. I focus on state legislatures, where institutional variation creates opportunities to study representation at scale.

Previously, I was a Predoctoral Research Associate at Dartmouth College, where I worked with Sean Westwood and the Polarization Research Lab on projects focused on political violence, democratic attitudes, and partisan behavior. I received my B.A. in Political Science from Brigham Young University in 2025. At BYU, I worked with Adam Brown, Christopher Karpowitz, and Ethan Busby on projects exploring legislative professionalism, gendered cosponsorship patterns, AI-driven political persuasion, and voter behavior.

You can find my CV here, and you can reach me at ellie.mitchell@yale.edu.