Steven Smith is an expert on U.S. politics, Congress, the presidency, elections and public opinion. He is a professor in the School of Politics and Global Studies. He also is the Kate M. Gregg Emeritus Professor of Social Sciences and former Director of the Weidenbaum Center at Washington University. In addition to Wash U, he has been on the faculties of the University of Minnesota, George Washington University and Northwestern University, and was a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. He is the author many books on congressional politics. He is the author of Steering the Senate (2025), Politics Over Process (2017), The Senate Syndrome (2014) and many other books.