Rate My Professor Sarah Anzia

University of California, Berkeley

Political Science Public Policy State Politics and Policy Urban Politics Representation and Electoral Systems Political Organizations and Parties Public Administration Legislative Studies

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5.04/23/2026

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About Sarah

Sarah Anzia is the Chancellor’s Professor of Public Policy and Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley, with joint appointments in the Goldman School of Public Policy and the Travers Department of Political Science. A prominent figure in Political Science, she studies American politics, focusing on state and local government, elections, interest groups, political parties, and public policy. Her research addresses the political activity of interest groups in U.S. city governments and their influence on policies related to housing, business tax incentives, policing, and public service provision. Anzia earned her Ph.D. in Political Science from Stanford University in 2012, with a dissertation titled “Election Timing and the Political Influence of the Organized”; her Master of Public Policy with honors from the Harris School of Public Policy at the University of Chicago in 2007; and her Bachelor of Science in Economics summa cum laude from Santa Clara University in 2001. She joined UC Berkeley in 2012 as Assistant Professor of Public Policy, progressed to Michelle J. Schwartz Associate Professor in 2017, Associate Professor of Public Policy and Political Science in 2021, Professor in 2023, and Chancellor’s Professor in 2024. She holds additional positions as Senior Fellow at the Niskanen Center since 2019 and Senior Fellow (adjunct) at the Hoover Institution since 2024.

Anzia is the author of Local Interests: Politics, Policy, and Interest Groups in US City Governments (University of Chicago Press, 2022) and Timing and Turnout: How Off-Cycle Elections Favor Organized Groups (University of Chicago Press, 2014). Her peer-reviewed articles have appeared in leading journals, including “Civil Service Adoption in America: The Political Influence of City Employees” (American Political Science Review, 2025, with Jessica Trounstine), “The Growth of Public-Sector Unions in Early Twentieth-Century America” (Studies in American Political Development, 2025, with Jessica Trounstine), “Does Receiving Government Assistance Shape Political Attitudes? Evidence from Agricultural Producers” (American Political Science Review, 2022, with Jake Alton Jares and Neil Malhotra), “Gender Stereotyping and the Electoral Success of Women Candidates: New Evidence from Local Elections in the United States” (British Journal of Political Science, 2022, with Rachel Bernhard), “Pensions in the Trenches: How Pension Spending is Affecting US Local Government” (Urban Affairs Review, 2022), “Party and Ideology in American Local Government: An Appraisal” (Annual Review of Political Science, 2021), and “Polarization and Policy: The Politics of Public-Sector Pensions” (Legislative Studies Quarterly, 2017, with Terry M. Moe). Anzia has received major awards such as the American Political Science Association’s E.E. Schattschneider Award for the best dissertation in American politics (2014), Harold D. Lasswell Award for the best dissertation in policy studies (2014), Virginia Gray Award for the best book on state politics and policy (2015), Dennis Judd Award for the best book on urban politics (2015), and Jewell-Loewenberg Award for the best article in Legislative Studies Quarterly (2018). She has obtained research grants from the National Science Foundation (2023-2025), Laura and John Arnold Foundation (2018), and Institute for Research on Labor and Employment.