Paul Frymer is a Professor of Politics at Princeton University. His research and teaching interests are broadly in American politics and public policy, engaging specifically in questions of law, race and civil rights, labor and employment, parties and social movements, and historical-institutional development. He is the author of numerous articles and three books, all with Princeton University Press: Uneasy Alliances: Race and Party Competition in America; Black and Blue: African Americans, the Labor Movement, and the Decline of the Democratic Party; and Building an American Empire: The Era of Territorial and Political Expansion. Black and Blue received the best book award from the American Political Science Association's Race, Ethnicity, and Politics Section, and an article from the book project received the Mary Parker Follett Award for best article in Politics and History from the American Political Science Association, the McGraw Hill Prize for best article in Law and Courts from the American Political Science Association, and the Best Article award from the Law and Society Association. Building an American Empire received the J. David Greenstone Award for the best book in Politics and History from the American Political Science Association, and the award for best book in Political Sociology from the American Sociological Association. He is also the recipient of multiple teaching awards, including the Stanley Kelley, Jr. Teaching Award from the Princeton Politics Department.

Currently, he is a co-editor of the journal, Studies in American Political Development. Between 2015-2020, he served as the director of the Program in Law and Public Affairs, housed in the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs, and served as acting director for the program in 2009-10 and 2013-14.