Julianna Thomson

"This study investigates how representatives utilize religious rhetoric when addressing the House floor and their constituents, and how this language is influenced by congressional leadership." #PolRel #Religion #Politics @universitypress.cambridge.org

resolve.cambridge.org/core/journal...

SSSR 2025 Student Paper Award (Published) for ‘Sacred speech: Analyzing the influence of congressional leadership on religious rhetoric,’ published in Politics and Religion.

Congratulations to @julthomson.bsky.social & @alenasmith13.bsky.social, winners of the SSSR’s 2025 Student PaperAward (Published) for ‘Sacred speech: Analyzing the influence of congressional leadership on religious rhetoric,’ published in Politics and Religion.

sssreligion.org/awards-grant...

@alenasmith13.bsky.social and I were awarded the 2025 Best Student Paper Award from @sssreligion.bsky.social. Thank you to everyone who helped along the way! @apsareligion.bsky.social @cambup-polsci.cambridge.org #polrel #polisky

@mpsa.bsky.social

I'm excited to be co-organizing a Working Group at MPSA 2026 with @alenasmith13.bsky.social and @brooklynwalker.bsky.social. If you’re mapping out your conference schedule, we hope you’ll join us in Chicago to build community and share research on religion & politics.
www.mpsanet.org/conference/w...

#polrel

Thank you for the kind words, Andrew!!!

Happy to share my article with @markjrozell.bsky.social has been published in Ethos - Quarterly of the John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin.

czasopisma.kul.pl/index.php/et...

The 2026 Midterms: Speaker Mike Johnson’s religious rhetoric will continue to shape how Republicans speak to their constituents | USAPP As we move towards the 2026 midterms, religious rhetoric will likely remain part of the political toolkit, especially for Republicans seeking to mobilize evangelical and culturally conservative…

As the 2026 #Midterm elections in the #US draw nearer, speaker Mike Johnson’s #religious rhetoric will continue to shape how Republicans speak to their constituents.

@alenasmith13.bsky.social @stanford.edu and @julthomson.bsky.social @georgemasonu.bsky.social for @lseusablog.bsky.social.

My latest with @alenasmith13.bsky.social on what religious rhetoric might mean for the 2026 midterms. #relpol #USAPP @lseusablog.bsky.social

The 2026 Midterms: Speaker Mike Johnson’s religious rhetoric will continue to shape how Republicans speak to their constituents | USAPP As we move towards the 2026 midterms, religious rhetoric will likely remain part of the political toolkit, especially for Republicans seeking to mobilize evangelical and culturally conservative voters...

Speaker Mike Johnson’s religious rhetoric will continue to shape how Republicans speak to their constituents write @alenasmith13.bsky.social of @stanford.edu and @julthomson.bsky.social of @georgemasonu.bsky.social

blogs.lse.ac.uk/usappblog/20...

Such a great piece! Shame it’s more and more relevant but excited at all the emerging scholars knocking it out of the park with their articles.

Really excited to see this research! It's something that I touch on in so many of my talks and interviews.

Folks feel like Christian nationalism is growing, even though we know fewer Americans embrace it than 10 years ago.

What has increased? Use of rhetoric. It has suffused our national discourse

The Johnson Effect: How the New Speaker Sparked a Religious Rhetoric Surge By Alena Smith and Julianna J. Thomson [Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons] After Mike Johnson (R-LA) became Speaker of the House in October 2023, Republican legislators started using significantly mo…

New post up at Religion in Public with @julthomson.bsky.social! We look at what happened to religious rhetoric in Congress after Mike Johnson became Speaker.
In short, no change in “God talk” on the House floor, more in Republican newsletters to voters.
religioninpublic.blog/2025/07/14/t...

The Johnson Effect: How the New Speaker Sparked a Religious Rhetoric Surge By Alena Smith and Julianna J. Thomson [Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons] After Mike Johnson (R-LA) became Speaker of the House in October 2023, Republican legislators started using significantly mo…

New at RIP from @alenasmith13.bsky.social and ​​@julthomson.bsky.social. Elevating Spkr Mike Johnson was a symbolic permission structure that pushed House GOP to use religious language more in their newsletters to constituents.
religioninpublic.blog/2025/07/14/t...

A new DCinbox based finding is out:

"Our findings reveal a significant increase in newsletters using religious language sent out by Republicans after Johnson became Speaker, while religious speech on the House floor remains unchanged."

www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

📢 Thrilled to share our new article introducing CampaignView—a comprehensive open-source dataset of congressional candidate campaign bios and policy platforms (2018–2022). Paper + data here: campaignview.org & doi.org/10.7910/DVN/... 🧵1/4

Thank you so much!

Happy to share that my article with Alena Smith has been published in Politics and Religion by @cambup-polsci.cambridge.org

We study how legislators use religious rhetoric and how this usage might be influenced by congressional leadership.

Check it out below!

Thomas Carty and I’s chapter is now out in Religion and Congress: The Intersection of Faith and Politics! We explore the shifting positions on abortion of Catholic Democrats in the Senate, focusing on how Biden and Kennedy navigated the complex intersection of faith, party, and public policy.

@cjobolin.bsky.social and I first connected over religion and politics research, but as former student-athletes, we’re also drawn to studying the civic and political engagement of athletes. So excited about this project!

@julthomson.bsky.social thank you!