Best departments for Congressional studies?

[Oboeist]

I'm looking to apply to a Ph.D program in American Politics and I was curious which colleges had the strongest departments for Congressional studies. I think I'll be applying to top 40 universities and if possible I'd like to stay in the south.

[Guest]

I'm also studying congressional affairs, and did extensive research on top schools for this. In my opinion, UNC (Roberts, Truel), Duke (Aldrich, Rohde, McCubbins),  UMD (Lee, Miller), Vanderbilt (Clinton, Oppenheimer), and Columbia (Wawro) were top here. I also applied to UVA, USC, Georgetown, Brown, and GW as I felt these programs had great congressional studies professors. 

[Oboeist]

Thanks for the insight, does anyone else have any input? I'm willing to look outside the south too if I get into a really highly ranked program, I just want to know which mid-tier schools punch above their weight in congressional studies. 

[dricjohnso]

18 minutes ago, Oboeist said:

Thanks for the insight, does anyone else have any input? I'm willing to look outside the south too if I get into a really highly ranked program, I just want to know which mid-tier schools punch above their weight in congressional studies. 

UT-Austin (Craig, Theriault, Jessee does a little Congressional work as well though more methods focused) is a good option for Congressional studies at a southern institution, though it's more southwest than deep south. 

Edited February 24, 2019 by dricjohnso
Added another faculty recommendation.