Make Room For A Wrong Hunch

In my mind, I had already been elected. I could see it so clearly.

It would be my first chance to serve the public in an official capacity. I knew what angle I had on the incumbent. Maddie helped me come up with my campaign slogan. I'd made a list of the first 20 people I would call to ask for advice and to endorse me publicly. By the end of Sunday night, I knew what I'd do in my first 100 days in office.

I woke up Monday morning having literally dreamt about my acceptance speech, about how I would be different from other politicians, and about how my campaign would be the first of its kind to leverage technology and AI in a way that was humanizing for voters, not extractive and pestering.

(Can we talk about all the campaign emails begging for money over this past weekend?)

And then, over my first cup of coffee, I logged into the NYC Election Commission's website to better understand what I'd have to do to become a candidate. That's when I saw it.

It hit me like a ton of bricks....