Southern Snakeskin

By J. Curtis

Sarah Dixon has decided that Mississippi needs her to be its next governor. After watching countless politicians neglect their commitment to her home state, she's determined to finally lead Mississippi into the modern era.

Despite her lack of political experience, she can relate to voters in a way that career politicians simply can't. Instead of just talking about serving people, she has actively done so through her successful non-profit. Her strong liberal views aren't appreciated by many in the conservative South, but she's confident that her people-focused platform will win her enough votes to pull off a historic upset.

As she challenges the incumbent, a man who has been the face of Mississippi politics for two decades, Sarah starts receiving blackmail. If she doesn't drop out of the race, someone is going to reveal her secret to the public, a secret she has guarded since her days in college. When incriminating reports surface, Sarah must fight off every attack on her character unless she wants to explain her connection to a deadly riot, a violent murder, and a notorious fugitive.

Sarah wants to lead an honest campaign, but she will do whatever is necessary to give the people of Mississippi the leader they so desperately need.

• Language: English
• Publisher: J. Curtis
• Release date: Oct 22, 2018
• ISBN: 9781386129295

Book preview

21 Days Until the Election

W ashington does not share Mississippi’s values, the old man said to the adoring crowd.

The massive gymnasium was packed to the brim. The audience completely filled the bleachers and left little standing room elsewhere. All eyes were on the speaker, standing at center court. The crowd of white families cheered and applauded every few seconds, almost on cue.

Sarah and Isabel felt very out of place. They stood behind the massive crowd with their backs in a corner. They weren’t here as participants, but as observers, carefully watching the performance the governor gave for his beloved fans.

Here it comes, Isabel muttered. This is always my favorite part.

Sarah heard Isabel, but did not elicit any audible response. She marginally nodded her head, but continued to focus. Her brown eyes darted around the gymnasium, taking it all in. She analyzed the governor, the way he moved, the way he enunciated words, even the way he emphasized particular parts of his speech here that he didn’t when he gave this speech in Picayune last week.

Sarah also watched the crowd. She specifically noticed when they felt the desire to cheer. It was largely predictable, but the loudness of the suburban voices still surprised her at times. The people weren’t exactly welcoming, but they seemed more confused by the presence of the two women than anything. Sarah hadn’t noticed anyone else with short, natural hair like hers in the crowd, or just dark skin for that matter. Both women had received their fair share of dirty looks since arriving.

That’s to be expected when you’re visiting your opponent’s campaign rally.

This is the most people I’ve seen at one of his speeches since Pascagoula, Isabel remarked.

McComb had more people, Sarah responded without breaking her gaze.

Than Pascaougla?

Yep, by about thirty people.

Is that including the people who watched from the pier? Isabel asked.

Yes, I added another twenty to the head count to compensate, Sarah said.

I counted closer to thirty, actually.

How close? Sarah asked as she turned to look at her young campaign manager.

I counted at least twenty-seven, Isabel replied.

Twenty-seven? Alright, then I suppose that McComb only had about twenty-three more.

Sarah and Isabel each turned their attention back to the stage as the spectacle continued to unfold before them.

Can I say this? The governor looked to his side, as if he was checking with an imaginary team of advisers. You know what? I’m going to say it anyway.

Isabel rolled her eyes as the governor flashed his overly-eager grin to the crowd. He loved this part, the part where he tried to relate with voters by bashing the Washington elite. The same Washington elite who he had been a member of for much of his life. Despite the obvious hypocrisy, it never seemed to bother the voters.

Ryan Mitchell won his first term as Governor of Mississippi by a landslide. No one was surprised that he demolished his Democratic opponent. Most people around here couldn’t get enough of him. He had been a prominent figure in Mississippi politics since before most of his audience had been born. His full head of white hair and his slightly overweight body made him indistinguishable from most Southern politicians, which only helped his chances. After serving multiple terms as a Congressman in the House of Representatives, he ran for governor when the party decided that it was his turn. He had impatiently waited to move into the governor’s mansion for years.

Mitchell’s reelection campaign began almost as soon as his first term started. He would be considered a failure in the party’s eyes if he didn’t get reelected. His first four years were conservative even by Republican standards. He did enough to keep his donors happy without letting any major controversies reach the public. That’s all the party wanted from him.

With the election just a few weeks away, his years of preparation continued to pay off. In a state as conservative as Mississippi, broadcasting the importance of family values while throwing jabs at ungodly progressives was usually enough to secure a reelection. This tried and true formula worked like a charm.

Congress is killing this country. It’s full of a bunch of selfish politicians who are only in it for themselves, Mitchell said, still avoiding the fact that he was a member of Congress just four years ago. What this country really needs is more people like all of you. This town is full of honest, hard-working Americans who are proud of their national heritage. Americans who show their pride by respecting their God, their country, and especially its flag.

The crowd cheered especially loud for this.

How many times have you heard that line before? Isabel asked Sarah.

At least a dozen.

Throughout the next several minutes, Governor Mitchell discussed topics ranging from protecting Second amendment rights to preserving Confederate monuments. He catered every point to this particularly conservative part of an exceptionally conservative state.

What are the odds that he says he anything about taking in refugees or abolishing ICE? Isabel asked with a heaping dose of sarcasm.

Probably the same as him mentioning climate change, Sarah curtly responded.

After watching hours of Mitchell’s rallies, interviews, and debates spanning much of the last two decades, Sarah and Isabel were both able to predict his words with robotic levels of precision. They probably knew his talking point better than he did. After all, a political outsider had no chance of defeating a tenured incumbent without a healthy dose of prep work.

Just curious, why was it necessary to be here in person? Why couldn’t we just watch a stream? Isabel asked as the crowd continued to roar in approval of Mitchell’s speech.

Sarah motioned her head over to the crowd. The hundreds in attendance were clearly enjoying themselves. The rally wasn’t just a political event for them. It was a celebration of their own beliefs, and a rebuke of those beliefs they deemed too liberal. All within the comfort of a safe space, ironically enough.

Because of his base, Sarah said. They will vote for the Republican candidate no matter what. It’s not about conservatism, or Christian-based politics. It’s about something else. We don’t have a chance at winning if we don’t at least understand them.

Do you really think you can get votes in Madison? Isabel asked.

Madison, Mississippi’s finest suburbia, had a slogan that said it all: Where families come first. It’s a nice town for white families, but it’s not exactly a place where new ideas are appreciated, although that goes for most of the state.

No, I don’t. Sarah said. But we have to try.

As Mitchell neared the end of his speech, he gave out his best rallying cry to his troops, despite knowing that he had all of their votes before he even started to speak. A lot of people in this gym had already voted for him multiple times in their lives. Even if they found out more about his immoral personal life, no amount of controversy or scandal could change their minds.

Mitchell always sounded more like a preacher than a politician by the conclusion of his speeches. Whoever first realized that emphasizing arbitrary Christian values would get the majority of the Southern vote was a genius. People like Mitchell had exploited it for centuries. Church attendance among politicians miraculously spiked during election season.

In my time as governor of this great state, I have noticed that while Mississippi has remained faithful to the Lord, much of this country has fallen away. Mitchell said. My opponent doesn’t think that there is anything wrong with this. I disagree.

The crowd liked that a lot. A chorus of Amen! echoed through the gymnasium. A few heads turned to sneer at Sarah and Isabel.  The candidate those heads cheered for would have a hard time getting support from his apolitical savior to pass his bills, but that didn’t matter. This wasn’t about the religious teachings or the religious text. Instead, it was about the religious culture, which had a tendency for picking and choosing which sayings of Jesus to emphasize. If Mitchell wasn’t on his third wife, he would probably target Sarah for her divorce. Actually, he would probably attack her for that anyway.

Do I need to issue a statement tomorrow saying that you, being an active Christian yourself, are surprisingly not anti-religion? Isabel muttered.

No, we have to be honest, Sarah said with a slight smile. Naturally, the first thing I’m going to do once elected is unconstitutionally ban my own religion from being practiced.

While much of Mitchell’s speeches could be copied verbatim and repeated by politicians in any Southern state, his finales always emphasized the greatness of Mississippi. After all, focusing on the state’s struggling economy, rising healthcare costs, and overall lack of opportunity for its citizens would not paint a very nice picture of the man who had failed to do anything about these issues for so long. Instead, he took advantage of the pride the native people had in their home and weaponized it.

I honestly believe that we have the best state in the union, Mitchell said. Some people who aren’t from here might not see it that way, but y'all know it’s true, and I know it’s true. If we want our state to continue to excel and be the best place it can be for our children, we need proven, conservative leadership to guide us through these difficult times. I hope you’ll vote for me on Election Day next month. Thank you!

Mitchell walked off the stage to a standing ovation. The crowd yelled and cheered as he stopped to wave, shake hands, and pose for pictures. A frenzy of audience members swarmed the court, doing their best to briefly meet him.

If we hurry, you might be able to get a picture with him, Sarah said.

Fantastic. I’ll frame it and put it next to my picture with Kevin Spacey, Isabel said.\

Do you really have a—

Don’t worry about it, Isabel interrupted. Let’s get out of here,

Sarah and Isabel did their best to weave through the mass of people to get to the exit, but the crowd stalled their progress. Along the way, they each received more attention than before, as people started to recognize them.

Why are they looking at me like that? Isabel sneered. I'm not the one running against him.

They know you’re with me, Sarah said. Mitchell wouldn’t have a Hispanic on his staff.

That’s not true. Every white politician needs a token minority.

Fair enough, Sarah remarked. I’ll put in a good word for you the next time I talk to him.

A particularly rowdy man appeared from within the crowd and began to accost the two women. After dealing with people like this for the entire duration of the campaign and for much of her life, Sarah paid him little attention.

What do you think you’re doing here? he asked.

Oh, me? Sarah responded. She only glanced at the man out of the corner of her eye. She didn't want to give him any false impressions about his own importance.

I’m here for the same reason as everybody else. I came for the show.

By the time Sarah and Isabel were finally able to get away from the crowd, they had endured obscene gestures, hateful remarks, an assortment of bizarre yelling, and even a few slurs. Sadly, this was business as usual, or at least usual for two minorities at one of Mitchell’s rallies.

The next day, Sarah sat down in the hotel’s conference room. The room was a bit small with a long, rectangular table in the middle of it. Sarah had the entirety of the core campaign team stay in an affordable hotel in nearby Jackson. Funds were tight, and much to the chagrin of the team, Sarah refused to spend any extra money on luxury.

Sarah sat alone and reviewed her notes at the head of the table. A cold cup of coffee rested next to a large stack of papers. She looked through the latest budget reports, the polling estimates, and news articles related to the gubernatorial race. The meeting didn’t start for another thirty minutes. Isabel walked into the room with a plate of food in each hand.

Good morning. How did you sleep? Sarah asked.

Isabel sat her food down next to Sarah and started to devour it. She filled her plates with the best of the complimentary breakfast, including a waffle, a pre-cooked omelet, yogurt, and grits. A person wasn’t really in Mississippi if they couldn’t get grits at every hotel breakfast.

I didn’t sleep very much, Isabel said between mouthfuls of food. I love this place though. I will never turn down a free breakfast.

Nor should you, Sarah said as her eyes focused on the papers in front of her.

Despite the significant age difference between them, Isabel was Sarah’s closest friend. At first, she had been just another sassy kid Sarah tutored, but as she grew older, the two developed a tight bond. After Isabel graduated from college, she came to work for Sarah at her non-profit. Although she probably wouldn't ever admit it, Isabel had always looked up to Sarah. Now, Sarah had to literally look up to see Isabel.

Sarah continued to review her materials as Isabel scrolled through her Twitter feed. This was how a lot of these mornings had gone. Sarah always arrived exceptionally early for every meeting, as she valued the information she would gain from her prep work over sleep. She would have time to sleep after the election.

Isabel didn’t arrive as early as Sarah did, but she usually managed to arrive before anyone else. Periodically throughout each day, she would scroll through her phone, and update Sarah on any pieces of crucial information. This was one of Isabel’s invaluable assets. She understood the minds of the critical thirty-five and under bracket better than anyone else Sarah knew. Isabel tirelessly worked as both the campaign manager and the social media connoisseur (as she liked to call herself).  Actively using any form of social media already made Isabel more useful than half of the staff. Sarah couldn’t remember their names most of the time.

Oh, here’s something. Isabel said. A few outlets are running Mitchell’s quote about Congress killing the country. They’re rightfully outlining the hypocrisy of it all.

Are any of those outlets conservative?

Of course not, Isabel responded. I think everyone’s favorite conservative station is currently talking about a new report that says that Hillary Clinton might be the antichrist.

Is she? Sarah grinned.

I guess we have to tune in to find out.

Sarah enjoyed being around Isabel's quick wit. Both women had to use caution with their words in front of cameras, but they got to let loose a little bit when it was just the two of them. Sarah really enjoyed these parts of her days.

Nothing is going to change for us until conservative news outlets start publishing these stories, Sarah remarked. Anyone who gets their news from non-biased outlets are either on our side already, or still mad that we won the primary.

The Democratic primary ended up being quite the divisive victory. Sarah Dixon narrowly beat Fred Reamer for the seat. Reamer, a fifty-year-old white man from Columbus, MS, had much of the support of the older Democrats in the state, but somehow, the young vote pushed Sarah to the top. Sarah gave Isabel credit for this, while Isabel thought the bold, progressive campaign messaging made the difference more than any one campaign worker.

Reamer acted graciously in defeat, unlike many of his supporters. Many fellow Democrats cited Sarah's lack of previous political experience as the primary reason for their concern, despite the fact that Sarah considered that an asset. It got one person elected to the White House after all.

For some reason, many of Reamer’s supporters believed that he had the best chance at unseating Governor Mitchell. No one said this aloud, but Sarah assumed that these supporters didn’t think that the conservative white population of Mississippi was ready for a black governor or a female governor, nonetheless a black female governor.

Since the state’s founding in 1817, every single governor of Mississippi had been a white male. This certainly wasn’t due to a lack of non-white residents, seeing as how Mississippi has the nation’s largest black population per capita. The state even had a slightly larger percentage of women than men. Centuries of racism and sexism practically acted as two of Sarah’s biggest opponents in the election. She didn’t just have to convince voters that she could do the job. For some particularly old-fashioned voters, she had to make them believe that people like her could do the job.

Most Mississippians aren’t consciously racist or sexist for that matter, Sarah once told Isabel in private. If a black woman were to run for office under the platform that everything was fine the way it was, and that conservative leadership was the true path forward, she would probably have a great chance of winning. The problem is that no self-respecting black woman could ever run on that platform.

As the meeting time approached, Sarah and Isabel were joined by various advisers, consultants, and volunteer coordinators. There was a healthy mix of gender and race present for obvious reasons. No one is going to win a political campaign by targeting one specific demographic in Mississippi, or at least, no Democratic campaign could get away with that.

Sarah looked down at her watch and immediately looked up at the table that was now full of people. Alright, it’s eight o’clock. Let’s get started.

Isabel stood up to throw her plates away and then began to pass out agendas. Isabel was the youngest person in the room by at least fifteen years, not that she cared. The DNC didn’t like the idea of a campaign manager who had yet to turn thirty, but Sarah refused to have it any other way. An unorthodox campaign manager perfectly suited an unorthodox candidate.

Sarah had been told that Isabel was too young, too inexperienced, and too unpredictable to run a gubernatorial campaign. Sarah would shut down any of these negative comments by saying that Isabel was young enough to provide essential insight into the minds of key demographics, experienced enough to have led a successful marketing campaign for a major company, and very predictable.

People would usually give her an incredulous look in response to that last statement, to which Sarah would respond with: She really is predictable. She only does one of two things. Either she does something that no one else has ever thought of, or she’ll do exactly what you told her not to do.

Let’s start out by looking at the latest polling numbers, Sarah said to her team. As you can see on the agenda, we are currently trailing by about nine points based off recent polls. Mitchell has about 54% of the vote, we have about 45%, and about 1% of voters have chosen to throw away their vote on random people. Our own polling backs these numbers up. This isn’t ideal, but it is a much lower margin than the Democrats faced four years ago.

The atmosphere in the room immediately soured. This was not the news that anyone on the team wanted to hear. Nine percentage points seemed like a mountain of an obstacle to surpass, especially this late in the election season. Mitchell had over half of the state’s support. Sarah’s promises of succeeding where earlier Democrats had failed were starting to wear a little thin. The campaign had already come farther than anyone had initially projected, but that wouldn’t matter if they didn’t pull off the upset.

How positive are we in these numbers? a woman asked.

They’re pretty accurate. Brett responded. Or at least, Sarah thought his name was Brett. It could have been Michael or Kendall for all she knew.

My people polled over one-thousand Mississippians from all over the state and from various backgrounds, Brett, Michael, or Kendall continued. These numbers also match up with what we’re seeing from news outlets, so it probably represents the general outlook fairly accurately.

Everyone in the room had seen countless Mississippi Democrats lose elections. Democrats had great success at winning local elections in certain pockets of the state, but state-wide elections were a different matter. Times were changing, but Mississippi was not. Any Democrat running for a major position fought an uphill battle. This made recruiting for the campaign team fairly difficult.

Within the party, most people didn’t actually believe they could win. Sarah wasn’t even sure if the majority of the staff thought they could pull this off, not that she blamed any of them. The staff mostly consisted of long time Mississippi DNC members with a few people Sarah had brought in herself from her work with non-profits. No high-ranking Democrats were present, as the party at large had given Sarah very minimal support.

Can the DGA throw in more money for advertisements? Mitchell is airing attack ad after attack ad on all of the local stations, a woman in the room said.

The Democratic Governors Association was responsible for helping Democratic gubernatorial candidates get elected. In other words, they raised a lot of money and used it to try to get as many Democrats into power as possible.

Isabel wrote the woman’s name down on a piece of paper and subtly turned it so Sarah could see it. Sarah did her best to conceal her inability to remember all of her team’s names. She glanced down at the paper before speaking.

Abigail, I talked with Grace earlier this week, and she says that we’re not going to get any more money from them. Sarah responded. If we get any more funding it’s going to have to come from donors. The DGA really thinks they have a shot in Kentucky and Louisiana. Any extra funding is going there. Unfortunately, Mississippi is not viewed as a winnable state.

Basically, they’ve given up on us. Isabel blurted out.

The nervous tension in the room grew by the second. Campaign members looked back and forth, anxiously waiting for someone to chime in with good news. Mitchell’s campaign had more money, more members, and most importantly, more supporters. This had only become more apparent to Sarah’s team in recent weeks.

So, what do we do? a man asked from the end of the table. We've been working non-stop at this for months and it probably will still not be enough.

Sarah took a deep breath. She planted her elbows on the table and clasped her hands together. She leaned forward, commanding attention.  Everyone else unconsciously leaned in a little as well.

We are going to do everything that we planned on doing, Sarah ordered. The money would be nice, but it’s not going to win us the election. The DGA threw money at Mitchell’s opposition last time, and it did nothing. We’re not going to take down a man who has been the face of Mississippi politics for over twenty years by playing commercials.

Sarah only partially believed this, but her team needed to hear it. An election might not be decided entirely over advertisements, but any money that could be used to dilute the constant smear campaign that plagued every Mississippi television set would have helped. With all of Mitchell's advertisements, some Mississippians might actually believe that Sarah wanted to take away people’s jobs or release the most violent criminals from prison.

Sarah still has plenty of opportunities to convince people to vote for her over the next few weeks, Isabel said. There’s a rally tonight at the elementary school, a town hall later this week in Vicksburg, a speech in Biloxi, the big debate in Jackson that we are still working to get televised, and tons of smaller events leading up to the election. She’s going to be able to directly speak to a huge percentage of voters.

A sense of calmness had gone back over the room. No one felt much peace, but the tension had at least lessened. A hand went up in the middle of the table.

Yes, Max? Isabel said.

The man hesitantly started to speak. "I don’t want to seem overly critical, but are we sure that having such an aggressive stance on our Social Media account is wise?"

Isabel loudly groaned. She has addressed this question a few times already. The constant battle between her bold, unique approaches to campaigning versus traditional methods rarely ceased.

Alright, I know that taking such forceful shots at Mitchell seems strange to many of you, Sarah said. I get that. We—

I’m not sure if you do. Max interrupted. I’ve been working on campaigns in this state for over ten years, and I have never been a part of a campaign that so rudely attacked its opponents.

Isabel had enough of Max’s criticisms.

Wow, ten years? That’s really something, Isabel remarked. How many of these campaigns have succeeded? I don’t know if you realized this with all your experience, but whatever you’ve done hasn’t worked. You and—

Sarah gently grabbed Isabel’s shoulder, silencing her immediately. She was the only person who Isabel would listen to, or at least listen to most of the time. Isabel took a drink of water as Sarah addressed Max’s concern.

Max, we have to try something new. Sarah said. Social media is an ever-evolving platform that is giving us new ways to connect with voters. Now, I’ll be honest with all of you. I don’t understand much of it. There’s a reason I still give all of you paper itineraries. I’m not the most tech-savvy person. Thankfully, we have Isabel. Isabel understands the platform as well as anyone. Since Isabel took full-control of our social media accounts, we have seen numbers higher than a lot of politicians get in far bigger states.

Max shuffled around in his seat. He listened, but clearly objected to what he heard. Most of the room probably agreed with him. Getting the campaign team to try new methods shouldn’t be such a difficult process, but people preferred to stay within their comfort zones. That’s what made defeating an incumbent so difficult in the first place.

I just think it’s going to rub people the wrong way. Max said.

I get that, Max. Sarah said. I had the same concern at first. Let’s look at an example. Isabel, can you tell everyone about that particularly successful tweet from last week?

Isabel nodded her head and pulled out her phone. She tapped various icons on the touch screen and started looking through her recent tweets.

On October eighth, Mitchell’s team tweeted out a picture of him with two fast food workers. His caption said ‘This place has changed a lot since I worked here in high school. It’s always great to stop by!’ Isabel read. "This tweet gave us a handful of opportunities for clever responses. With Sarah’s permission, I sent a reply from the official Sarah Dixon twitter account that said:

It would also be great if you didn’t fight against those workers’ rights to quality healthcare and sustainable wages."

Sounds of laugher echoed throughout the room. The more veteran staff members even enjoyed it. A smug smile flashed across Isabel’s face.

Thousands of people on Twitter had this exact same reaction. Isabel said. People loved it.

Thank you, Isabel. Sarah said. "As I think she just illustrated, we don’t use any of our social media accounts to be particularly mean or hateful to anyone. Instead, it’s an avenue in which we can connect with a younger audience by making it something worth paying