Chapter 7
Three years later
Sessego for Senate—Las Vegas, Nevada
by Lily Norman, posted on
In the world of political communications, slick messaging firms and K Street consultants are the (very expensive) norm, but Gabe Hunt sees things differently.
“I came up in field,” Hunt says. “I’ve spent thousands of hours knocking doors, talking face-to-face with actual voters.
That’s an experience no focus group can replicate.
People don’t want to be messaged—they want to be heard.
” Hunt made a name for himself running the Florida field operation for President John Flannery, but he jumped to comms the next cycle for Rep.
Nick Mohney (D-MT), who successfully flipped Montana’s at-large district in the midterms. This cycle, Hunt’s moving up to the big leagues: He’s been tapped as communications director for Rep.
Jo Sessego (D-NV), one of the most popular members of the House, who’s finally taking her shot at a Senate seat.
“Jo is my dream candidate,” Hunt effuses.
“She speaks her mind, and she doesn’t care if she pisses you off.
She’s absolutely fearless. Who else would agree to do a Reddit Ask Me Anything the day of her campaign launch?
” That AMA reached legendary status after going viral and propelling the Sessego campaign to a massive first-week fundraising haul.
Was the AMA a genius political move, or just plain lucky?
Hunt answers with a bit of a wink: “With a candidate like Jo, all I have to do is put her where the eyeballs are. I’m just grateful she’s confident enough to say yes to my ideas. ”
Between campaign cycles, Hunt enjoys adventures with his girlfriend, Tallulah Del Rosario, an Australian travel vlogger / model known as “WanderLu” on YouTube, where she has more than a million subscribers.
The pair met while skydiving in Montana, and Hunt has been a regular feature on Del Rosario’s channel ever since.
“Lu keeps me grounded,” Hunt says. “When you’re on a race, it’s easy to fall into the trap that life begins and ends with this week’s polling data.
There’s nothing like a quick rafting trip to Brazil to remind you there’s a world outside all this.
” So would Hunt consider leaving politics to join Del Rosario’s voyages full-time?
Sessego’s campaign manager Kira Liu says there’s no way: “Gabe’s a political junkie of the highest order.
No matter how cool he looks kitesurfing on the Indian Ocean, believe me, he’s never happier than when he’s on a campaign. ”
Transcript of Slack Channel: Sessego for Senate #AllStaff
Kira: Quiiiiiiiiite a hit in this morning’s press clips!
Kira: Did everybody see?
Preethi: Ooooh Gabriel, so famous
Preethi: So handsome
Preethi: So suave
Lacey: !!!!
Lacey: My mom is gonna freak out
Shawn: My mom is gonna ask for Gabe’s number
Ike: My mom is gonna ask why I’m not already dating him
Gabe: Aw, you guys
Simone: Congrats, Gabe! Great work, Preethi!
Preethi: FINALLY, someone recognizes MY work here
Kira: Lol we all know Preethi is the real genius in the comms department
Gabe: Hey! I’m the genius who hired that genius!
Anya: Did anyone move last month’s fundraising report? It’s supposed to be in the Digital Reports folder on the Google Drive but I don’t see it there.
Kira: Um. Weird! @Dale can you check on that?
Dale: @Kira @Anya on it!
Transcript of Slack Private Message: Anya Katz and Simone Humphrey
Simone: Anya
Anya: What?
Simone: Really? You needed that report right this second?
Anya: I’m the campaign’s digital director, I need access to our fundraising data
Simone: And you couldn’t have pinged Dale directly?
Anya: Sorry, didn’t realize the Stasi was cracking down on what questions we could ask in the group chat
Simone:
Transcript of Slack Private Message: Gabe Hunt and Kira Liu
Gabe: Did you see that?
Kira: I saw
Gabe: She can’t even let us have a funny chat about some stupid article
Kira: She had a question!
Gabe: That’s not what that was, and we both know it!!
Kira: You’re right, she was so angry about some people calling you cute that she couldn’t help but request information she needs to do her job
Gabe: I realize you’re being sarcastic but that’s literally what happened
Gabe: She is ruining the emotional and spiritual tenor of this campaign!
Kira: You’re ruining the emotional and spiritual tenor of my breakfast
Transcript of Slack Private Message: Anya Katz and Simone Humphrey
Anya: That article wasn’t even about his actual work for the campaign
Anya: The Reddit AMA?? That was *MY* idea!
Anya: It was more about his girlfriend than Jo Sessego
Anya: “Model.” Tallulah posts bikini selfies online, she doesn’t strut catwalks in Milan
Anya: And like honestly, that’s kind of a failure of Gabe as our comms director
Simone: What is? Dating a vlogger?
Anya: No! Letting a reporter take up column inches that could be used in support of our candidate to talk about his girlfriend instead. It’s unprofessional!
Anya: And vlogger isn’t even a word!
Transcript of Slack Private Message: Gabe Hunt and Kira Liu
Gabe: I worry that at some point it’s unprofessional
Gabe: She always has to be right, which means she always needs me to be wrong
Kira: She wouldn’t always need you to be wrong if you’d ever acknowledge that she’s occasionally right!
Gabe: Are you talking about the immigration vote?
Gabe: You KNOW I’m right about that, but she won’t let it go
Kira: Is she the one currently not letting it go, bud? Or is that you?
Gabe: I can’t believe you’re taking her side
Kira: I can’t believe this conversation is still happening
Transcript of Slack Private Message: Kira Liu and Simone Humphrey
Kira: They’re really on one this morning
Simone: You’re telling me
Kira: Gabe thinks Anya is making the campaign not fun, and he has a point
Simone: Anya’s pissed Gabe took credit for her AMA idea in the press, and she has a point
Kira: Fuck
Kira: I was so hoping this would get better when Anya and Zeke moved in together
Simone: Not sure hoping for the best is a terribly effective management strategy?
Kira: You’re right, this has gotten out of hand. I’ll talk to them today.
“Anya? What’s that smell?”
“Damn it!” Anya put down her phone and rushed into the kitchen.
In her fervor of typing furious Slack messages to Simone, she’d completely forgotten the tray of bacon she was roasting.
Little curls of smoke were rising from the oven—Anya turned it off and yanked open the door. The bacon was charred black.
“I think you might have burned it,” Zeke joked. He stood behind Anya and wrapped his arms around her waist, and she sighed and leaned back against him. She loved how big he was, tall and soft and burly.
“I wanted to make you breakfast,” she said mournfully.
“But then something happened with work?” His tone was knowing but playful. He was a campaigner too, a field organizer for President Flannery’s reelection campaign.
“Something happened with you-know-who.” Anya turned to face Zeke and gave him a dark look.
“Wooooow, this early?!” Zeke stared at his bare wrist, agog at the pretend time. “How does he get any work done, with all the energy he spends pissing you off?”
“He’s very committed to his side hustle as my mortal enemy,” Anya joked, already feeling a little better.
“Poor Annie.” Zeke hugged her, and she relaxed into his touch.
Zeke always called her Annie—a callback to when they’d first met a few months ago in a noisy dive bar after a rally and he’d misheard her name.
She’d called him Pete in turn to try to rile him up, but he loved it.
They ended up sleeping together that night, and they’d been calling each other Annie and Pete ever since.
When Zeke’s housing situation fell through only a couple of months into dating Anya, she’d been worried that him moving into her (very small) apartment would put undue strain on their relationship.
It hadn’t been easy, but it had also been, to Anya’s surprise and delight, really nice.
Zeke was on the road most of the time for work, and Anya was always happy to see him when he got home.
No matter how tired and stressed Anya was after a long day on the Sessego campaign, it all seemed to melt away when she and Zeke got high, watched half an episode of whatever comedy was rerunning on TBS, and fooled around until they fell asleep.
“I’m sorry,” Anya said to him. “I hate to start the day already bitching about Gabe.”
“No, it’s good,” Zeke joked. “I’m driving to Ely later, so you’ve gotta get your bitching in now.”
“That’s today?” Anya looked up at him. “I thought that was next week.”
“Annie, today is next week. At least I think it is.” He reached over to grab a half-smoked joint from an ashtray on the kitchen table, then lit it and took a hit. He offered it to Anya, but she shook her head.
“How long are you gone?” she asked.
“Not sure.” His voice was thin from the hit, then he exhaled. “They want to open a field office up there, but there’s some problem with the building. If the lease falls through we gotta find somewhere else, so. Maybe five days, maybe a week?”
“That long?” Anya gave him a pouty little look. “How ever shall I survive these harrowing climes all by my lonesome?”
This was always their bit when he left: He was her rugged frontiersman, she was the homesteader bravely fighting off enemies as she awaited his return.
“I guess you’ll need some memories to keep you warm,” he said gruffly, pulling her close.
“Yes,” Anya agreed solemnly. “But will the memories help me defend against bears and dysentery?”
“They will if I make them good enough.” Zeke kissed Anya’s neck. “How much time do we have?”
“Ugh, not much, maybe twenty minutes? My first meeting’s at nine, and I can’t be late. Gabe has been up my ass over this immigration vote—”
“Hey.” Zeke put his hands on either side of Anya’s face. “Can we be done talking about him?”
“Sorry.” Anya felt a twist of shame. “Let me make it up to you.”