Page 118 of See You Next Tuesday

“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?”

Simone sounded calm as always, but Anya immediately felt anxious—she knew something was wrong. She glanced at her phone’s clock—5:22 a.m.—and opened her laptop, which was on the hotel bed next to her along with several notebooks and files. Anya was still wearing yesterday’s clothes; she hadn’t even made it under the covers before she fell asleep.

“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