Chapter 19
Anya woke to her phone ringing. She sprang up in bed. Had she overslept? Did she miss the charter flight? The debate was tonight; she needed to be in South Carolina. She picked up the phone in a panic.
“What time is it?” she asked. “Am I late?”
“Anya, take a breath, it’s me,” Simone said on the other end of the line. “I’m sorry to call so early. I have Kira with me. Can you open your Signal app?”
“Okay, it’s open,” Anya said into the phone. “You sent a video file?”
“Yes,” Kira said. “We need you to watch it.”
Anya clicked play. It was an ad, a negative ad.
About Jo. Showing her at an anti-war protest, saying she was unprepared to lead our troops.
Showing her at a predominantly Puerto Rican block party, saying she would open our borders.
It was fear-mongering of the basest order—racist, sexist, xenophobic. Anya’s throat felt dry.
“What is this?” Anya asked.
“Did you see the ‘paid for by’ line at the end of the ad? It’s the super PAC Wheeler’s been raising money for,” Simone said.
“Someone messaged it to me from an anonymous number,” Kira added.
“Gabe?” Anya’s voice was quiet. He couldn’t really be involved in this, could he?
“I don’t know, but I would guess so, yeah,” Kira answered.
Anya rubbed her temples. “Is this going on the air today? Will Jo get asked about it at the debate tonight?”
“I think we have to assume yes,” Simone said.
“Fuck,” Anya breathed. “I’m not surprised we’re getting attacked. I just…”
“Didn’t think it would be this ugly,” Simone finished the thought.
“We could brush it off?” Kira suggested. “Say it’s an insult to political discourse and pivot back to our message? I think that’s the safest strategy.”
Anya thought back to a moment nearly ten years prior—a much smaller moment, on a much smaller campaign. Something inside her clicked into place: She knew exactly what to do.
“Do you guys remember when I worked that congressional in Ohio? Jenna Salditch?” Anya asked.
“Like five days before the election, there were suddenly allegations that her husband had cheated on her. And we were maybe going to blow it off, but in the end we decided to address it head-on—because it wasn’t only about us.
It was about these disgusting sexist attacks that get levied at every woman who runs for office.
So we called it out for what it was, and it totally worked. We won the race.”
“You think we can do the same thing here?” Kira asked.
“Absolutely,” Anya said. “We go after this ad because it’s not just about our campaign. It’s about shutting down this trash in all campaigns.”
“I love that,” Simone said. “We can workshop an answer for the debate and adjust her stump speech, get some new content up on social by tomorrow?”
“We could even use the exact same footage from the attack ad,” Anya said excitedly.
“Except instead of all grainy with scary music, it’s bright and colorful and full of hope—this is a candidate who isn’t afraid of protest, or multiculturalism, or strong, powerful women.
That’s not a reason to vote against her. It’s a reason to vote for her.”
“That’s killer,” Kira effused. “Anya, can you take it to Jo?”
“Yep,” Anya said—then her phone started buzzing against her ear. “Oh, I have call waiting, maybe that’s her?”
But when Anya looked down, her screen said Gabe.
She hit the red button to decline the call.
“Sorry, just spam,” Anya said quickly. “I’ll go talk to Jo right now.”
“Good,” Kira said. “Call us when it’s done.”
“This strategy will work,” Anya insisted. “I know it will.”
Transcript of Work the Polls podcast, episode #34
Air date: March 5
Cat: Hi, this is Cat.
Ruby: And this is Ruby.
Cat: Welcome back to Work the Polls, where we take a weekly look at what’s happening with women in politics.
Ruby: And what’s happening remains…bad.
Cat: So bad.
Ruby: Hideously bad.
Cat: Ruby, you’ve worked in politics professionally—can you help me understand what happened?
Jo Sessego came in second by a razor-thin margin in Iowa, scored a decisive victory in New Hampshire, and absolutely crushed in her home state of Nevada.
But then it felt like everything fell apart?
She lost by thirty points in South Carolina, and now we’re just days out from Super Tuesday, with sixteen states about to vote, and everyone’s acting like Wheeler has the whole contest sewn up. How did we get to this point?
Ruby: Huge sigh…okay. So, I think we have to talk about a few things.
The first is that progressive voters really over-index in Iowa and New Hampshire, which means progressive candidates tend to fare better there than in other states.
So Jo Sessego had that going for her, and then she had her home state on top of that, like you mentioned.
So one thing that could be happening is we saw a little bit of a Sessego mirage in those first three states, and we’re starting to see more centrist voters take the reins.
Cat: That makes sense for South Carolina, but not for all the Super Tuesday states. Massachusetts votes on Super Tuesday! So does Vermont, and California!
Ruby: And if Jo Sessego can pull off wins in those states, especially California, she’ll still be in this race. But that’s looking tough right now for two big reasons.
Cat: Which are?
Ruby: First, Liddy and Nathan dropped out of the race earlier than expected.
They’re both moderates—if they had stayed in through Super Tuesday, they would have cut into Wheeler’s votes and made it easier for Sessego to get a plurality.
Since they dropped out, most of their voters are going to Wheeler.
Cat: You can’t count on men to do anything right.
Ruby: One hundred percent correct.
Cat: What’s the second reason?
Ruby: This one is trickier—but there’s definitely been a message shift, and a shift in media coverage of the race.
The media loves an underdog, so Sessego was enjoying some shine from that on her spectacular rise from when she entered the race through those first three primaries.
But the media also really loves to knock a woman off a pedestal.
Jo Sessego was never going to win South Carolina—but she lost by more than expected because of Nathan and Liddy dropping out of the race.
So now the media is asking, “Was she ever really the favorite? Was this just a blip? Will the country really vote for a candidate like Jo?” And Wheeler is asking those same questions with these really upsetting attack ads—which, to her credit, Sessego hit back on very hard.
Cat: But not hard enough?
Ruby: Maybe too hard, actually. Because when Sessego hit back on those ads, she ended up giving them free attention.
She gave the talking heads on cable news an excuse to talk about the ads more: They were mudslinging attack ads, sure, but did they raise some valid questions?
And combined with her loss in South Carolina, that really started to cement this narrative that Jo Sessego cannot and should not win the Democratic nomination.
Democrats are afraid to lose in November, and Wheeler feels like the safer choice. The safe, white, male, moderate choice.
Cat: So, is it over? Is that it? It felt so real this time—like, after all the losses we’ve had to watch women endure, for once it was actually going to work out.
Ruby: I hope it’s not over. The Sessego campaign is running an incredible field organization—they’re absolutely gangbusters on voter turnout. So there’s a chance they could still pull out some big victories on Super Tuesday, and if they do, I think they’re still in this.
Cat: But if they don’t?
Ruby: Then we might have to accept that we lost this time. But we’ll keep fighting. In the next election, and the one after that. I mean, right? What else can we do?
Signal group chat transcript: Anya Katz, Kira Liu, and Simone Humphrey
March 9, 11:14 p.m.
Simone: This is…not a super Tuesday
Anya: Are we going to win a single state?
Simone: Maybe Minnesota, they’re still counting
Simone: But I think Wheeler will take the rest
Kira: Anya, are you with JS now?
Anya: No, she went to her room after we decided she wasn’t going to speak tonight
Kira: Ok, good
Kira: I’d like for the three of us to have a conversation before you see her
Anya: Kira, what conversation
Simone: You know
Anya: No
Anya: It’s too soon for that
Kira: It’s too soon to make any final decisions
Kira: But we need to narrow our focus
Kira: And set some benchmarks to decide whether we still have a path
Anya: I wish I was with you guys
Simone: That’s the literal only good thing about this
Simone: You get to come home
Text message transcript: Gabe Hunt and Kira Liu
March 29
Gabe [9:14am]: Hey man
Gabe [9:15am]: So, I know things have been pretty strained lately, and I want to give you as much space as you need
Gabe [9:16am]: But I haven’t heard from Anya in almost a week
Gabe [9:16am]: I’m so sorry to bother you K, I really am
Gabe [9:16am]: But I’m like out of my mind over here
Gabe [9:17am]: (Also, not to be brushed aside, I miss you. I really miss you.)
Gabe [9:17am]: So if you can, I don’t know. Tell me if she’s okay? Obviously she’s not okay, but like, if she’s functioning? I don’t even know what I’m asking
Kira [9:58am]: Hey, sorry. I was on a call
Kira [9:58am]: Anya’s okay
Gabe [9:58am]: Yeah??
Kira [9:58am]: I mean, like you said, obviously none of us are
Gabe [9:58am]: Right
Gabe [9:59am]: But it’s not like last year? I shouldn’t be worried she’s having some kind of breakdown?
Kira [10:07am]: I don’t think so?
Kira [10:07am]: I shouldn’t really tell you this, but I guess it doesn’t matter now
Kira [10:08am]: We’re suspending the campaign. We decided four days ago. JS will announce in two weeks when she concedes defeat in the New York primary
Gabe [10:08am]: Fuck, K. I am so, so sorry
Kira [10:10am]: Anyway, that’s probably why you haven’t heard from Anya. She’s taking it really hard. She feels responsible
Gabe [10:10am]: Why?? She worked her ass off for that campaign