What it takes to elect black candidates to Congress will be the subject of a $100,000 study by a UC Davis political science scholar. Ben Highton, a UC Davis assistant professor of political science, has received $100,000 from the Carnegie Corp. of New York to conduct the study over the next two years. "I will be investigating what factors influence whether black candidates are elected and what factors influence whether members of Congress, be they black or white, support black interests," Highton says. He is one of 16 researchers, including emerging and recognized scholars at American universities and a think tank, named to the second class of Carnegie Scholars in 2001. Highton has studied various aspects of voting and public opinion, including the intersections between the two topics. His current project will address important issues relating to the election of African American candidates and the support for African American interests in the U.S. Congress. By analyzing how voters respond to black candidates and investigating how the needs of African Americans are represented in Congress, he hopes to explain the links between citizens and their elected representatives. Highton has published research on U.S. Senate elections, voter registration and voter turnout. As an American Political Science Association congressional fellow, he worked for U.S. Sen. Paul Wellstone, D-Minn., on education and welfare policy in 1998-99.