How to Lose an Election
A two-part podcast story on one long shot campaign trying to unseat Speaker Nancy Pelosi
The gold brooch Nancy Pelosi placed on her white blazer the night of the State of the Union Address earlier this year was a miniaturized version of the Mace of the United States House of Representatives. The actual Mace is nearly four feet tall and made of silver and ebony.
It represents the authority of the Speaker. It is a symbol.
And for so many years, Speaker Pelosi, in her own right, has been a symbol: one of power, divisiveness, and #resistance.
As she was tearing up a copy of the President’s speech that night, a San Francisco progressive activist named Shahid Buttar was firing off tweets about the shallowness of her performative politics.
He and his team of political misfits have spent months building up a campaign to challenge her seat in Congress. It is a long shot but has been billed as the second most important race to watch in this country.
Shahid is the first serious Democratic contender to Nancy Pelosi in years. Or at least, he was.
This two-part story tries to understand what happened to this once-promising campaign and asks what lessons can be learned for future leftist candidates seeking public office.
You can listen to Part One here and Part Two can be found here.
Thankfully, you can’t rip up a podcast. But please don’t leave any negative reviews.
