Lynda W. Powell is professor of political science at the University of Rochester. Her current work focuses on (1) legislative bipartisanship, polarization and representation; (2) internal institutions in legislatures, namely leadership and committees; and (3) the effects of contributions in the legislative process.

Her most recent book, The Influence of Campaign Contributions in State Legislatures: The Effects of Institutions and Politics (University of Michigan Press, 2012) won the Fenno Prize, the best book award of the Legislative Studies Section of APSA, and was the inaugural winner of the Gray Prize, the best book award of the State Politics and Policy Section of APSA. Other publications include The Financiers of Congressional Elections (coauthored with Peter Francia, John Green, Paul Herrnson, and Clyde Wilcox; Columbia University Press, 2003); Term Limits in the State Legislatures (coauthored with John Carey and Richard G. Niemi; University of Michigan Press, 2000); Serious Money: Fundraising and Contributing in Presidential Nomination Campaigns (coauthored with Clifford W. Brown, Jr., and Clyde Wilcox; Cambridge University Press, 1995); and articles in journals including the American Journal of Political Science, and the Journal of Politics and Legislative Studies Quarterly. Powell received a Social Science Research Council Negotiating Agreement in Congress research grant in 2017–2018 for a project titled “Negotiating Bipartisan Agreements: A Comparative Study of Congress and the Fifty US State Legislatures.”