Raymond J. La Raja is Professor of Political Science and Associate Dean of the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences at University of Massachusetts, Amherst and Associate Director of the UMass Poll. His research focuses on political parties, political participation, and campaign finance. He is co-author of Campaign Finance and Political Polarization: When Purists Prevail, winner of the 2016 Virginia Gray Best Book Award, and a co-author on policy reports from the Brookings Institution. He is founding editor of The Forum, a journal on American politics, and past President of the Political Organizations and Parties section of the American Political Science Association.