Forging America: My Campaign Manager is Roosevelt-Chapter 55 - 43: How to Run for Office?

Inside the prefab office, a long silence fell after Leo announced he was going to run for mayor.

Frank and Sarah were both stunned by the shocking decision.

After a few minutes, the initial excitement began to cool.

Sarah was the first to speak, her brow furrowed.

"Leo, I don’t want to pour cold water on this, but do we really know how to run for Mayor of Pittsburgh?"

"I mean, look at what we have."

"You’re just a history grad student and an executive committee member of some fringe department. Our funding is practically zero, aside from those Federation funds that can only be used for construction. As for staff, it’s just the few of us and a team of volunteers."

"It’s simply an impossible task."

Her tone softened, and a complicated look entered her eyes.

"And, Leo... I have to ask."

"Are you suggesting this because Frank and I were fighting last night?"

"I know finding a common enemy is the best way to resolve internal conflicts, but I don’t want that for us. I don’t want you to use a crazy decision like this to paper over the real issues we have."

For once, Frank didn’t argue after hearing what Sarah said.

He tore his gaze from the wall and looked at Leo, his voice low. "Sarah’s right, kid. Don’t run off and challenge the mayor on an impulse just because the two of us were arguing. It’s not worth it."

"Staging protests in the streets, getting the Union brothers to turn out and vote—I know how to do that. But a real mayoral election is a whole different ball game. There are too many tricks and unwritten rules. We’re just amateurs."

They both looked at Leo, waiting for his answer.

Leo didn’t answer their question directly.

He just leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes, as if gathering his thoughts.

In truth, his consciousness was in communication with Roosevelt.

’Mr. President, am I qualified to run for mayor?’ Leo asked.

Roosevelt’s voice, full of power, resounded in his mind.

"Qualifications? My boy, in the political elections of the United States, qualifications aren’t determined by your résumé. They’re determined by the unique narrative you can offer the voters!"

"Just open a history book and look. They’re piled high with the most qualified losers."

"In 1860, William Seward had a résumé fit for a King. He was a governor, a Senator, the undisputed leader of the Republican Party. Everyone thought he was a shoo-in to win, but what was the result?"

"He lost to a country lawyer from Illinois, Abraham Lincoln."

"What did Lincoln have? A single, mediocre term as a Representative and two failed Senate campaigns. But Lincoln had a narrative that Seward couldn’t touch—he was the Rail-Splitter."

"What’s the incumbent Mayor Carter Wright’s narrative? That he’s an experienced, steady, and reliable manager."

"That narrative might work in times of peace and prosperity, but in today’s Pittsburgh—a city filled with unemployment and despair—it just makes him look like an out-of-touch, ivory-tower aristocrat."

"And what is your narrative?" Roosevelt countered. "You are a young man, cast aside by this decaying system, but you didn’t give up. You rose up again from among the people and used your wisdom and courage to bring them tangible, concrete change."

"You are an outsider, a challenger, a man of action."

"So, you tell me, Leo. In today’s Pittsburgh, which narrative resonates more deeply with the people?"

Leo opened his eyes.

He looked at his two partners and began to rephrase Roosevelt’s theory on "narratives" in his own words.

"Sarah, Frank, you’re both right."

"My résumé is a disaster, we’re pathetically underfunded, and our team is laughably small. From the perspective of any traditional political analyst, us taking on Carter Wright is a suicidal charge we’re guaranteed to lose."

"But that is precisely our greatest strength."

He stood up, his voice growing stronger.

"What’s Carter Wright’s story? He’ll tell the voters he’s been mayor for eight years, that he’s experienced and well-connected, a steady and reliable manager."

"It’s a nice-sounding story, but it has a fatal flaw: It doesn’t explain why, under the leadership of this ’experienced manager,’ the unemployment rate in Pittsburgh’s southern communities is still rising. Why are our roads still riddled with potholes? Why do our kids still have to do their homework in a dilapidated community center?"

"In the face of the real suffering people are feeling, his experience is worthless. In their eyes, his ’steadiness’ is just another word for inaction."

Leo turned to Sarah and Frank.

"And what’s our story?"

"Our story is about a young man who was cast aside by this decaying system, and how he rose up again from among the people."

"Our story is about a group of forgotten old workers who rose up to defend their homes."

"Our story is about how we, with wisdom and courage, snatched back the money that rightfully belongs to the people of Pittsburgh from the hands of those bureaucrats in Washington!"