Going through the last six decades has involved a lot of people, and I’m forever grateful to everyone who has helped reconstruct years of adventures in troublemaking. Thank you to my friends from the labor movement, the Planned Parenthood family, Capitol Hill, and elsewhere for your memories, editing, and guidance: Debra Alligood White, Peter Brownlie and Deborah Jenkins, Matt Burgess, George Crawford, Diane Dewhirst, Brendan Daly, Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro, Eskamani, Roger Evans, Marisa Feehan, Eric Ferrero, Yvonne Gutierrez, Amanda Harrington, Lori Hawkins, Jane Hickie, Maryana Iskander, Rebecca Katz, Jennifer Kinon, George Kundanis, Ken Lambrecht, Dawn Laguens, Dutch Leonard, Chuck McDonald, Nick Merrill, Laura Olin, Selena Ortega, Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, Janis Pinelli, Lynne Randall, Callie Richmond, Steve Rosenthal, Laurie Rubiner, Jen Samawat, Dan Schwerin, Jono Shaffer, Dana Singiser, Evan Smith, Andy Stern, Emily Stewart, Sarah Stoesz, Tom Subak, Luis Ubiñas and Deb Tolman, Sarah Weddington, Brady Williamson, and Liz Zaretsky.
Thank you to the Ann Richards campaign family who raised my kids and taught us all what it means to dream big. To the hundreds of nursing home workers, janitors, hotel staff, and more whose courage to fight for justice continues to inspire me. In the words of Nelson Mandela, “It always seems impossible until it’s done.” And, of course, thank you to Hillary Clinton for giving me the honor of traveling the country to support your campaign. When we elect the first woman president of the United States, it will be because of you.
This book, and my life, are better because of the friends who have stuck by me and encouraged me every step of the way: Patti, Annette, Rebecca, Gina, Samantha Smoot, and many more.
Thanks to our tireless editor, Lauren Spiegel, and the team at Touchstone and Simon & Schuster: Carolyn Reidy, Susan Moldow, Tara Parsons, Brian Belfiglio, Emily Remes, Elisa Rivlin, Shida Carr, Meredith Vilarello, Cherlynne Li, Sydney Newman, Rebecca Strobel, Martha Schwartz, Lisa Healy, Judith Hoover, Nancy Inglis, Mike Kwan, Erich Hobbing, Amanda Mulholland, Julie Ficks, Paul O’Halloran, Cordia Leung, Tom Spain, Elisa Shokoff, Abhita Austin, Ryan Lysy, Noriko Okabe, Tara M. Thomas, Erica Weintraub; to Meg Thompson and Cindy Uh at Thompson Literary Agency, who helped us on our first book adventure; and to Robin Gaby Fisher for your infinite patience and for making this possible.
None of this would have happened without the partnership with Lauren Peterson, who believed we could write a book, and then we did. Her commitment to telling this story, and to doing it with me, is a gift I can never repay. Thanks for writing your first book with me—as Lin-Manuel Miranda would say, history has its eyes on you. Thank you also to the extended Collins-Peterson clan for copyediting, moral support, and for getting us across the finish line.
You are holding this book in your hands because of the generosity and support of my incredible family. Thank you to Dan for unearthing hilarious political cartoons and swapping stories; Ellen and Greg for discussing campaign life and child-rearing over breakfast tacos; Clark for being my attorney and adviser and great brother. And of course, thanks to Dad for your wisdom and recollections and for teaching us kids about justice and progressive values from an early age.
Hannah, Daniel, and Lily were invaluable collaborators with an uncanny knack for remembering some of our best (and funniest) moments as a family. I am so proud to be your mom. Thank you, Kirk—for your eagle-eyed copyediting, for walking Ollie, and for being my biggest cheerleader and partner in troublemaking all these years.
And to the thousands of organizers and activists without whom there would be no story: Thank you.