The Kenneth Sherrill Award for Emerging Scholars is presented annually by the American Political Science Association (APSA) to honor the best doctoral dissertation on lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBTQ+) topics in political science.
Citation from the Award Committee:
This innovative and well-researched dissertation explores the role of the news media in the candidacies of LGBT candidates for elected office, and particularly how news coverage upholds sexual and gender norms of heteronormativity and cisnormativity. LGBT candidates face more scrutiny, and often their campaigns are depicted as focused only on issues facing the LGBT community. Some would-be candidates, understanding the negative news coverage that would result, choose to not run for office, a point supported with analysis of survey data of LGBT women. LGBT candidates who do run tend to lean into issues and presentations of self that encourage positive news coverage. The focal example, Pete Buttigieg, an openly gay candidate for president in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary cycle, illustrates the biased way in which his candidacy was covered by the media. Using a survey experiment, the dissertation provides evidence that this biased news coverage does not adversely affect gay candidates. We chose this dissertation to receive the 2026 Kenneth Sherrill Dissertation Award because of its excellence in multiple aspects of our craft, including innovative theory and strong quantitative and qualitative data skills.
Despite the stereotypes and tropes persistently invoked by the media, the dissertation provides encouraging data that gay candidates may be less harmed by this coverage than candidates fear, and that leaning into their identities can be beneficial when targeting co-partisans (which tend to be Democrats). Eventually, the news media may become less heteronormative in its coverage of gay candidates as public attitudes continue to shift to be more inclusive.
We enjoyed reading this dissertation and were impressed by the breadth and uniqueness of its findings. We believe it is precisely the sort of work that Dr. Kenneth Sherrill would have enjoyed: focused on real-world politics of out candidates for public office, a club he was a proud member of and seeking to provide actionable information for those seeking to follow in his footsteps and to chart ways of increasing the visibility and viability of LGBT people in public life.
Dakota Strode, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg. Dr. Strode received his PhD from American University. His research in American politics focuses on political behavior, campaigns and elections, political communication, and LGBTQ politics. Specifically, he examines the role the news media play in the electoral process for LGBTQ candidates, including how the news media influence the political ambition of LGBTQ people, how the news media cover LGBTQ candidates, how LGBTQ candidates strategize about their self-presentation to influence the type of coverage that they receive, and how the coverage of LGBTQ candidates influences voter evaluations of LGBTQ candidates. Additionally, he has published research about the political attitudes and behaviors of LGBTQ people and the attitudes of the public toward LGBTQ people.
APSA thanks the committee members for their service: Melissa Michelson (Chair) of Menlo College, Joanna Wuest of Stony Brook University, and Patrick Egan of New York University
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