103 weeks ago I covered my first 2020 campaign event.

It was MLK Day weekend in Columbia, South Carolina. At this point @CoryBooker nor @BernieSanders had announced that they were running.

Before closing this wild chapter of my life I’m sharing some memories (a thread)

Honestly, this thread is gonna take a lotta twists and turns a long the way, but buckle up because it's gonna be a fun and bumpy ride.

On every trip I made, I tried to see people far removed from politics.

My dad died when I was a kid, and my Uncle-Daddy, as I called him, was a second Dad to me. He invited me to a rural MLK day event that would a year later prove to be the most important trip I took in 2020.

I didn't know I'd be covering 2020. I still had a day job, general assignment covering anything that happened in the DC region.

So right after MLK I'd follow Roger Stone around D.C. for his various court appearances.

I've learned a lot about running with a camera since then...

I moved to Richmond, Virginia in February 2019, for a short time as the state was rocked by photos surfacing of Gov. Ralph Northam was involved in a blackface scandal. Days later, allegations of sexual assault against Virginia Lt. Gov Justin Fairfax would surface.

Former Rep. John Dingell, longest-serving member of Congress in US history, died in early February. His wife, Rep. Debbie Dingell allowed the media to cover the burial at Arlington National Cemetery.
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/rep-john-dingell-longest-serving-member-congress-us/story?id=60926875

March 5, 2019

The official announcement was made, I'd be spending the next nearly 2-years on the road covering the election with 17 amazing journalists/embeds at ABC.

(Pictured is most of the DC based embeds, @rachelvscott was on the road.)

My first solo trip after learning I’d be an embed was SXSW. I realized very quickly this wouldn’t be a normal election.

Over a dozen of maybe-2020 candidates poured into town pitching themselves to voters. I didn’t know who I’d be covering over the next year but took notes.

I remember the most about SXSW Sen. Elizabeth Warren speaking to a standing room only crowd.

Then-South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg (who I would later be assigned to cover) spoke to an empty room right after Warren. Undeterred he seemed determined to work to earn every vote.