Eugene D. Mazo

Eugene Mazo, a nationally recognized scholar of election law, joined the faculty in 2023. Professor Mazo writes about the theory and practice of democracy, both in the United States and around the world. His book The Best Candidate: Presidential Nomination in Polarized Times was published by Cambridge University Press in 2020. His other books include Democracy by the People: Reforming Campaign Finance in America (Cambridge University Press, 2018) and Election Law Stories (Foundation Press, 2016). At Duquesne, he holds a joint appointment in both the Thomas R. Kline School of Law and in the Political Science Department at the McAnulty College and Graduate School of Liberal Arts.

Professor Mazo has chaired the Section on Election Law at the Association of American Law Schools (AALS), where he played an instrumental role in creating the John Hart Ely Prize in the Law of Democracy and the Distinguished Scholarship Award in Election Law, two of the most prominent awards in his field. He has also long served on the executive committee of the Section on Constitutional Law, and he is the past chair of the Section on New Law Professors

Professor Mazo has long been a scholar of the democratic process. He was a post-doctoral scholar and research fellow at the Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law (CDDRL), an affiliated scholar at the Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC), and a visiting researcher at the Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies (CREEES), all at Stanford University. He has been awarded grants for his research by the Social Science Research Council and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and he is a past recipient of the Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans. 

Professor Mazo’s name has often been cited in the media, appearing in publications such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Financial Times, and Politico. He has been a guest blogger for Prawfsblawg and can often be found ruminating about democracy on Twitter. His articles are available on the Social Science Research Network. Professor Mazo has taught at several law schools in the United States, including Baltimore, George Mason, Maryland, Rutgers, Seton Hall, and Wake Forest. A graduate of Columbia College, he received a master's degree from Harvard, his doctorate in politics from Oxford, and a law degree from Stanford. 

• J.D., Stanford University
• Ph.D., Oxford University
• M.A., Harvard University
• B.A., Columbia University