Schar School of Policy and Government PhD in Political Science student
Contact Information
About
B.A., Dartmouth College: Religion (2020)
M.B.A., Villanova University (2022)
Research Interests
American politics; Religion and politics; political communication; identity politics
Dissertation
Sacred Speech in a Secularizing Society: Congress, the President, and the Politics of Religious Rhetoric
Dissertation Chair
Mark Rozell
Publications
Thomson, Julianna J., and Alena Smith. 2025. “Sacred Speech: Analyzing the Influence of Congressional Leadership on Religious Rhetoric.” Politics and Religion.
Carty, Thomas J., and Julianna J. Thomson. 2025. “Catholic Senators and Abortion Politics: The Cases of Joe Biden and Ted Kennedy.” In Religion and Congress: The Intersection of Faith and Politics, edited by David A. Dulio and Colton C. Campbell, 97–114. Boulder, Colorado: Lynne Rienner Publishers, Inc.
Public Scholarship
Smith, Alena, and Julianna J. Thomson. 2025. “The 2026 Midterms: Speaker Mike Johnson’s Religious Rhetoric Will Continue to Shape How Republicans Speak to Their Constituents.” London School of Economics United States Centre (blog).
Smith, Alena, and Julianna J. Thomson. 2025. “The Johnson Effect: How the New Speaker Sparked a Religious Rhetoric Surge.” Religion in Public (blog).