HILLSDALE, Mich. — Through Hillsdale in D.C.’s James Madison Fellowship, fifteen young professionals working in and around the nation’s capital are thinking through important questions in modern politics while learning from primary documents, contemporary sources, and Hillsdale faculty and distinguished friends.

“The fellows in this class are serious young professionals in D.C. who seek to understand and influence national politics on the most important questions,” said Matthew Spalding, vice president for Washington operations. “This fellowship helps them to see the current regime in light of the one established by the founders and to understand what is needed to restore American self-government.”

The James Madison Fellows meet once a month to discuss issues such as identity politics, immigration, marriage and family, free speech, the rule of law, political economy, and the aims of American foreign policy.

The 2025-2026 fellows are:

• Asher Allman, senior policy advisor for the U.S. Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs
• Lyssa Bell, executive director of the Republican Study Committee
• Robert Bellafiore, managing director for policy at the Foundation for American Innovation
• Calvin Blaylock, chief of staff at Invictus Strategies
• Bart Connolly, foreign area officer in the U.S. Navy
• Sean J. Conway, associate counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee
• Andrea Fedrigo, director of outreach and mission advancement at the Napa Institute Legal Foundation
• Babs Hough, senior policy advisor for the Food and Nutrition Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture
• Levi Lall, counsel in the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Policy
• Blake Mueller, advisor for research and development in the U.S. Department of Energy
• John Rindone, policy advisor for national security in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy
• Charles Russell, communications director for Rep. Addison McDowell, R-N.C.
• Harry E. Scherer, speechwriter at the U.S. Department of Agriculture
• Delano Squires, research fellow in the Richard and Helen Devos Center for Human Flourishing at The Heritage Foundation
• Daniel West, government relations director for Heritage Action

For bios of the fellows, click here. For more information about the James Madison Fellowship Program, click here. For photos of Hillsdale in D.C., click here.