LOS ANGELES, September 21 — U.S. Senator Gary Peters will become the next director of the Center for the Political Future at the University of Southern California Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, the university announced, capping a Senate career that began with his election in 2014 and will end when his second term concludes in January 2027. Peters, a Bloomfield Township Democrat who announced in January 2025 that he would not seek re-election, will hold the Carmen H. and Louis Warschaw Endowed Chair in Practical Politics.
He will co-lead the center alongside veteran Republican campaign strategist Mike Murphy, a pairing USC describes as making the CPF one of the only university political centers in the country jointly directed by a Democrat and a Republican.
A Bipartisan Pairing in a Polarized Era
The arrangement puts two operatives from opposite sides of the aisle in charge of a single academic institution. Peters succeeds the retiring founding director, Robert Shrum. The co-directorship is unusual in higher education, where political centers more often reflect a single partisan or academic tradition.
Peters brings a background that straddles both worlds. Before entering Congress, he taught strategic management, business policy, and finance at several Michigan institutions, including Oakland University and Wayne State University.
He previously put a doctorate in political philosophy at Michigan State University on hold to run for federal office.
Expanding the Center’s Washington Footprint
One of his primary initiatives will be expanding the center’s D.C. footprint, aiming to bridge the gap between academic research and active federal policymaking. Peters will split his time between Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., teaching courses on politics, policy, and civic engagement at both the main campus and USC’s Capital Campus. His Senate seat is listed as a toss-up in the midterms.
According to reports from The Washington Post on September 21, 2026, Peters expressed confidence that Democrat Abdul El-Sayed will win the highly competitive Michigan midterm race to succeed him in the Senate. For USC, the hire lands a sitting senator with both legislative experience and a teaching record.
For Peters, it converts a career in elected office into an academic platform with a Washington presence — a transition that will be complete when his Senate term ends in January 2027.
