no, she’s on a motorcycle pic.twitter.com/He1SKkQU37
— counterfax?? (@counterfax) June 29, 2022
Great introductory anecdote here (which I’m not gonna spoil, click over ya lazy bastids), and a good strong narrative. Rita Omokha, at Vanity Fair:
There was sure to be drama at the Lake County campaign stop. That’s expected for any Democrat entering a rural Florida town that went to Donald Trump in 2016 and 2020, let alone a Black woman. It was a hot spring morning. The pine trees were full, the sky clear, and Representative Val Demings pulled up on her red Harley-Davidson with her biker crew, 30 deep, engines revving. People stared. Some stuck out phones. This was her first of four drop-ins to local eateries in the county: A tiny Cracker Barrel–type spot with cream-stained walls and the smell of fried butter and syrup. The goal that Saturday was to do the stops in about three hours. A bite here, a sip there, and selfies everywhere.
Demings’s staffers hustled into the red bungalow, scurrying to keep her on time. Since breaking day at Ace Cafe, 27 miles away in her 10th Congressional District, where her pack of motorcyclists—ex–Air Force, military, law enforcement—first congregated, her campaign staff of millennials and Gen Z’ers had worried the crammed day would veer off schedule. They’d come to appreciate, and plan around, Demings’s penchant for zingers and lingering conversations.
Geared up in a Harley pink-striped button-down, blue jeans, and fingerless gloves, Demings milled about with twinkling eyes. Mostly white customers filled the space. They stared and flashed reflexive smiles. She announced to each table that she’s running for Senate to unseat Marco Rubio, her voice crisp and measured. When she stopped to greet the only Black family in the place, a father with his two young sons, the man smiled and quietly told her he knew her well. As Demings worked her way out the diner, a white man with sparse grays and a stubbly beard grabbed her right hand…
Sunday Read: ‘Val Demings Is On A Mission’Post + Comments (55)