Chapter 15
One month later
Sessego for America—Washington, DC
Wheeler for President—Frederick, Maryland
Two Weeks In, Sessego Campaign Makes Major Splash—but Is That Enough to Woo Voters?
by Kara Morales, The Washington Post
Political observers are still scrambling to make order of the presidential field since Senator Josefina Sessego’s bombshell announcement two weeks ago that she’d be joining the fray.
The Sessego campaign went on to announce a first-week fundraising haul of over $3 million, and progressive voters who’ve long sought a viable alternative to front-runner Andrew Wheeler signed up in droves to volunteer.
But this late in the race, there’s a sizable infrastructure gap, with other campaigns already having field offices in the four crucial early states staffed and running for months.
Sessego’s campaign manager, Kira Liu, isn’t worried.
“Our voter base knows how to organize. They’re teachers, union members, community activists,” Liu said.
“They wouldn’t dream of showing up to a canvass without bringing three friends, so our growth is exponential.
It’ll take the polls some time to reflect what we’re already seeing on the ground: We’re rocketing to the top of the field. ”
Liu may or may not be correct in her assertion, but it’s certainly true that the polls don’t reflect it.
Of the early state primary polls released this week, Sessego has only broken into the top three candidates in her home state of Nevada; she’s still fourth or lower in Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina, and she lags significantly in the race for endorsements from prominent Democrats.
Meanwhile, the Wheeler campaign has undergone its own shake-up, announcing Gabe Hunt as its new campaign manager shortly before Senator Sessego entered the race.
Hunt successfully managed Wheeler’s most recent Senate bid to his highest-ever victory margin.
Notably, he also served as communications director for Sessego’s inaugural Senate race three years ago.
“I have nothing but the utmost respect for Senator Sessego and her team, and I think her voice will be a great addition to the race,” Hunt said.
“This campaign should be a robust dialogue about the issues facing the American people—but it also has to be a conversation about which candidate is best prepared to win this election and serve as our next president. I have all the confidence in the world that the voters will choose Andrew Wheeler as enthusiastically as I have.”
As the race barrels forward in a state of flux, most experts agree we won’t have a clearer picture of Sessego’s impact until next month’s primary debate. Until then, the question remains: Will Sessego break through to the front of the field, or will she remain one of this cycle’s many also-rans?
Text message transcript: Anya Katz and Gabe Hunt
September 27
Anya [10:42pm]: I’m so sorry
Gabe [10:42pm]: Don’t tell me
Gabe [10:42pm]: You’re staying the night in Iowa?
Anya [10:43pm]: No but we’re just leaving for the airfield now, JS got held up talking with some teachers
Anya [10:43pm]: We won’t land until 1am, I’ll be lucky to be home by 2
Gabe [10:43pm]: Great I’ll see you at 2:01
Anya [10:43pm]: Come on, you can’t
Gabe [10:44pm]: I have to
Anya [10:44pm]: What time is your first meeting tomorrow?
Gabe [10:44pm]: 7 but it’s a call, I can take it from the road and be back in the office by 8
Anya [10:44pm]: So you’re going to leave Frederick at 1, get to my place at 2, then be back driving at 7?
Anya [10:44pm]: That’s insane
Gabe [10:45pm]: Anya, you’ve been gone eight days
Gabe [10:45pm]: If I don’t see you tonight I’m murdering one of the media consultants tomorrow
Anya [10:45pm]: No great loss for humanity tbh
Gabe [10:45pm]: You’re not the one stuck in meetings with them all day
Anya [10:46pm]: Serves you right for having an actual TV budget
Gabe [10:46pm]: I could fake sick tomorrow? Do my calls at your place?
Anya [10:46pm]: Reasonably sure your colleagues would frown on you talking strategy in the home of your opponent’s senior staff
Anya [10:46pm]: Besides, we’re wheels up to South Carolina as soon as JS finishes her votes. I have to figure out which box has clean clothes then go to the office to see Kira and Simone
Gabe [10:47pm]: Perfect, I’ll take my meetings from Sessego HQ. You guys have call rooms, right?
Anya [10:47pm]: Gabe seriously, I’m worried about you driving so late and again so early
Anya [10:47pm]: I’m dying to see you, but I’ll be back in town next week, yeah?
Gabe [10:47pm]: Hey, remember that tiny meeting room in Vegas?
Anya [10:48pm]: The one barely big enough for one human, let alone two?
Gabe [10:48pm]: I used to imagine the two of us in there
Gabe [10:48pm]: And we’d be fighting about something
Gabe [10:48pm]: And you’d be making your smart points, but I’d be distracted by whatever you were wearing
Anya [10:49pm]: What was I wearing?
Gabe [10:49pm]: Depends
Gabe [10:49pm]: Maybe a shirt I could unbutton
Gabe [10:49pm]: Maybe a skirt short enough to run my hand between your thighs
Anya [10:50pm]: I hate you
Anya [10:50pm]: Simone has a spare key to my new place, will you drive to DC now and get it from her please? Take a nap on my bed, I’ll wake you when I get home
Gabe [10:50pm]: You’d rouse your exhausted boyfriend from his slumbers?
Anya [10:51pm]: If you actually go to sleep instead of working until 2am I’ll rouse you in a way I think you’ll really enjoy
Gabe [10:51pm]: Ok can’t talk getting in the car now
Anya [10:51pm]: Lol
Anya [10:51pm]: I love you, travel safe
Gabe [10:51pm]: You too, on both counts
Gabe [10:51pm]: I can’t wait to see you
“Simone, where are we on field organizers?” Kira asked. “I want to sign leases on ten new offices in Iowa and New Hampshire, but it’ll be a waste of money unless we have organizers to staff them. And does anyone know when the crew breaks for lunch? I can’t take this noise.”
Sessego “headquarters”—such as it was—was on the third floor of a building in southeastern DC under active construction, meaning the team was constantly besieged by clouds of dust and a cacophony of saws and hammers.
Every time Anya went into the office, she was newly grateful she got to spend most of her time outside it.
“Hiring’s been tough,” Simone said. “Most of the best field organizers already have jobs this cycle.”
“Do they know we’re offering health benefits?” Anya asked. “We’ve got to be the only campaign that’s doing that.”
“Wait—are we really?” Preethi asked. She’d stepped into Gabe’s shoes as the communications director for this race, and she was kicking ass. “We can do press on that.”
“Hell yes.” Kira grinned. “What’s the strategy?”
“Okay, thinking out loud.” Preethi twirled one of her long curls around her fingers.
“It’d be something like, we’re the only campaign living our values?
And more than that…we’re keeping our promise to deliver healthcare to all Americans before we’ve even been elected.
How can Americans trust the other candidates to get healthcare for them when they won’t even do it for their own campaign workers? ”
“That’s brilliant,” Anya said. “We can emphasize how much more money Wheeler has than we do—but he won’t ever spend it on healthcare for his workers. Instead he’s blowing his budget on overpriced media consultants and TV ads.”
Anya felt a momentary twist of guilt—she knew about Wheeler’s consultants because Gabe was always complaining about them. Still, all that was publicly available information; it wasn’t like she was betraying Gabe’s trust to use that against Wheeler.
“I love this,” Kira said. “We can even make this one of the questions Jo asks Wheeler at the debate.”
“I’ll bring it up with her this afternoon,” Anya said, making a note.
They were only two weeks out from the first debate of the cycle, and prep was intense.
They knew this could be a make-or-break moment for their campaign: A star-making performance could send Jo on a meteoric ride all the way to the nomination, but if Jo was just another dull and forgettable member of the field, they could very well stay relegated to the third- or fourth-place position where they currently sat.
“Speaking of the debate, did you guys see that new rule on podium order from the DNC?” Simone asked. “It’s bullshit. Is there anything we can do about it?”
“Oh!” Anya lit up. “I actually had an idea about that.”
“Gabe, thanks for being with us today.”
“My pleasure, Ruth.” Gabe smiled into the camera and pretended he could see the face of CNN’s evening anchor instead of a dull black lens.
This was his last interview of the day; he waited for the red “recording” light to turn off before he unclipped his lapel mic.
He’d never done this many media appearances for any race, but it had become clear to him almost instantly upon taking this job that when the Wheeler camp said they wanted “a more youthful face” for the campaign, the face they were referring to was Gabe’s.
Luckily, Wheeler’s campaign office was outfitted with its own satellite TV studio, so Gabe’s press hits were rarely more than an elevator ride away.
Gabe didn’t know what he hated most: all the time he was forced to spend away from his actual work, the frequency with which reporters gleefully encouraged him to trash his former boss (and, by extension, his girlfriend and best friends), or the fact that now, for the first time in his life, he had to wear a boring-ass suit and tie to work every day.