Norman Ornstein

Norman J. Ornstein is a senior fellow emeritus at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), where he has studied politics, elections, and the US Congress for more than four decades. He created “Vital Statistics on Congress” in 1980 with Thomas Mann and Michael Malbin, providing impartial data for those who follow congressional activities, and is updated biennially. He is also an integral participant in AEI’s Election Watch series and serves as an adviser to the Continuity of Government Commission.

Dr. Ornstein previously served as co-director of the AEI-Brookings Election Reform Project and has been a vigorous advocate for political reform, particularly in campaign finance, election reform, and the reform of House and Senate procedures. Additionally, his efforts contributed to the establishment of the Congressional Office of Compliance and the House Office of Congressional Ethics. Elected fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2004, he has notably influenced political science and public policy.

Dr. Ornstein is frequently featured on major media outlets including C-SPAN, CBS, CNN, Fox News Channel, MSNBC, NPR, and “PBS NewsHour.” He served as an election analyst for CBS News for thirty years and has also been an on-air election analyst for BBC News. His commitment to addressing social issues led him, through his family foundation named after his late son Matthew, to spearhead the documentary “The Definition of Insanity,” about the intersection of criminal justice and mental health, which debuted at the Miami Film Festival in March 2020 and was broadcast nationally on PBS on April 14, 2020.

An accomplished writer, Dr. Ornstein’s articles and opinion pieces are featured in prominent publications such as Foreign Affairs, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post. He is also a contributing editor and columnist for The Atlantic. His notable publications include the New York Times and Washington Post bestsellers “One Nation After Trump: A Guide for the Perplexed, the Disillusioned, the Desperate, and the Not-Yet Deported” (St. Martin’s Press, 2017) with E. J. Dionne and Thomas E. Mann, and “It’s Even Worse Than It Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided with the New Politics of Extremism” (Basic Books, 2012) with Thomas E. Mann. Other significant works are “The Broken Branch: How Congress Is Failing America and How to Get It Back on Track” (Oxford University Press, 2006) with Thomas E. Mann, and as editor of “The Permanent Campaign and Its Future” (AEI Press, 2000) also with Thomas E. Mann.

Dr. Ornstein obtained his PhD and a master’s in political science from the University of Michigan, and a BA from the University of Minnesota. His extensive career and scholarly contributions make him a respected voice in the analysis of American politics and governance.