Anton Gunn lost a race for South Carolina state legislature, then read Obama's book and called his Senate office 10-12 times until Obama picked up. He joined the campaign, became a healthcare advisor in the White House, and helped shape messaging around the Affordable Care Act.
Chapters
I decided to run for public office one time, and I ran for the state legislature in South Carolina, and I lost. And I happened to be reading this book called The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama, who at the time was a United States senator and was thinking about running for president of the United States. And when I read his book, I was inspired, I was motivated. And so literally, I called his office 10 or 12 times until somebody called me back. And I told him, if you want to become president, you need people like me involved. And he believed me. Next thing I know, I'm riding in the car with him. And then later on in his administration, when I worked in healthcare and I was an advisor on healthcare reform or the Affordable Care Act or Obamacare. So I've seen the highest level of leadership, and I saw him before he became the highest level of leadership and actually helped to guide him along the way, uh, giving him the right words that work, uh, to be successful when it comes to talking to people about certain issues.