WORSE THAN YOU THINK

Two teachers recount launching a misguided run for Congress in this campaign memoir.

“We were two average, apathetic, everyday Americans, finally driven off our respective couches by a desire to get involved and make a difference,” writes Hamrick in the book’s introduction. In this story of idealistic naïveté, readers get an insider’s perspective on Allen’s 2018 run for Congress in Texas’ 24th district and Hamrick’s efforts as campaign manager. While downplaying their connections to the suburban Dallas community they sought to represent, both Allen and Hamrick were award-winning, beloved teachers when they first launched their Democratic primary campaign. Full of level-headed, compassionate ideas that challenge the brash, reactionary tenor of President Donald Trump’s first term in office, the duo emphasizes the drudgery of 21st-century political campaigns. Written in a fast-paced, witty style reminiscent of Aaron Sorkin (except, in this story, the good guys lose), Allen and Hamrick’s account blends side-splitting anecdotes, ample cursing, and campaign disenchantment into a timely snapshot of contemporary politics. Frequently self-deprecating, the authors juxtapose Texas’ “organized, efficient, and mobilized” Republican Party, buoyed by a team of young suburbanites, with the state’s Democratic machine, which they liken to the Titanic, “post-iceberg, sinking into freezing waters while panic and chaos erupted around us.” Allen would lose the primary to perennial Democratic candidate Jan McDowell, though not for lack of trying. On one occasion, after a day of grueling campaigning, Allen discovered that he had shredded the rubber soles of his shoes. While the work’s narrative casts itself as a “buddy comedy,” whose sarcastic style may grate on the more academic readers focused solely on political insights, the authors skillfully offer pragmatic advice for would-be politicians. In primaries, for instance, where a candidate may agree with his opponent on most issues, what matters is not the “substance of what you say, but how you say it.” While an implicit indictment of the political system, the engaging book is rarely bitter and maintains a tinge of the earnest idealism that drove Allen’s campaign in the first place.

A tongue-in-cheek yet often perceptive glimpse into modern political campaigns.