Gretchen is sitting outside on her porch with Eddie and Mary as they visit.
Mary: Such a beautiful day. And these Long Islands aren’t too shabby.
Anthony: You can thank Gretchen for that. She bought me a cocktail recipe book for my birthday after we put then bar in out here. I find’t even know there wasn’t actually iced tea in a Long Island iced tea before then!
Eddie: There isn’t? I guess I’ve always just focused more on the booze. I’ll take another, by the way.
Gretchen: Don’t you have to drive home?
Eddie: It’ll wear off by then!
Anthony: Not how I make them!
Toby: Hey, I want an iced tea!
Gretchen: Christina, go into the kitchen and get your brother some Arizona.
Christina: Why do I have to do it? Why can’t he get it?
Gretchen: Because I want to make sure he doesn’t take one of your dad’s booze-filled Long Island iced teas instead!
Mary: You ever notice how many types of iced teas are named after places? Long Island, Arizona… I guess that’s it, but I still found it notable.
Anthony: Mary, you always have the most astute observations.
Mary: Thank you. I think so, too.
Gretchen: Well, while you guys are here, I could use some advice.
Eddie: Oh no. Now?
Mary: What, you’re too drunk to give advice but not too drunk to drive?
Eddie: Stop harassing me, you’re drinking too!
Mary: I capped myself at one, like a responsible adult who is driving later.
Gretchen: I don’t think anyone here is too drunk to give me advice, so here we go: I’ve decided what I’m doing about the upcoming primary.
Mary: You know you can’t run, right?
Gretchen: Of course I do!
Mary: I’ve seen how politicians cling to power, I did’t know fi you had something up your sleeve.
Gretchen: No, I’m making an endorsement for my successor. This has been weighing over me for months, it’s time to get it out of the way.
Mary: You’re backing Hank, right?
Eddie: Oh, I like him. He’s a fighter.
Gretchen: Yeah, he always fought me!
Eddie: I see myself in him.
Gretchen’s phone rings.
Mary: That Carol?
Gretchen: No, even less important: aunt Bethany.
Gretchen turns her ringer off and throws her phone back on her chair.
Gretchen: As I was saying, I’ve had months to think on this, and mom’s passing pushed it to the side, but it’s time. It’s May, the primary is getting closer, it’s time to make my move.
Mary: I’m glad you’re weighing in instead of keeping quiet. I thought that was a ridiculous idea. You need someone who’ll commit to continuing your legacy. If Jeanne gets in, that’d be a disaster.
Gretchen: That’s a big part of wanting to strike now. I can’t have her winning.
Eddie: So what advice do you want from us?
Gretchen: Okay, I’m endorsing Carrie Lione.
Mary: Interesting!
Gretchen: How do I break this news to Pratt, who thinks she’s my very best friend on earth?
Anthony: You’ve been stressing about this for weeks! Just do what I told you.
Gretchen: Pratt is not the sort to simply sit down for a calm chat and take bad news well. I don’t want to set her off.
Eddie: I don’t see what other option you have, honestly.
Anthony: Thank you!
Gretchen: You’re no help!
Christina: Mom, she’s an adult -
Gretchen: Not really!
Christina: She can take bad news.
Gretchen: We’ve just gotten to the point where we work together well. I don’t need to make an enemy out of her again.
Mary: You could just not endorse Lione. Is she that much better than Pratt?
Gretchen: Have you heard Pratt talk?
Mary: Unfortunately.
Gretchen: I need someone who can beat Jeanne. She has a lot of dark money coming in, all the big businesses are backing her because she’s anti-union. Carrie doesn’t have that, she’s running a progressive campaign as a charismatic underdog.
Eddie: Won’t an endorsement from the governor take the “underdog” thing away from her?
Gretchen: Are you implying my endorsement is a negative thing now? I think I’m pretty popular now, I’m actually not sure.
Mary: You’re the most popular Democrat in the state.
Gretchen: See! I can help!
Eddie: It was just a thought.
Gretchen: Maybe you are too drunk.
Christina: Speaking of which, did anyone see Toby? Did he grab that Long Island iced tea from the bar?
Anthony: No, that was me. As soon as your mother said something about needing advice, I knew I’d need more booze.
Gretchen: I’ve gotten zero ideas here. She really thinks I’m gonna endorse her. How do I break the news to this delusional woman?
Christina: Try to trick her into dropping out.
Gretchen: How would I do that?
Christina: She’s pretty easy to outsmart.
Eddie: Have the supreme court disqualify her from being on the ballot. Say she had phony signatures or something. They did it in Michigan.
Gretchen: I know, what a brilliant idea my buddy Gina had! She left the Republicans having to decide between nominating a porn star and a used car salesman.
Eddie: It’s incredible to me that they chose the porn star.
Gretchen: Nobody likes a used car salesman!
Mary: Ohio…
Gretchen: We don’t talk about Ohio.
Anthony: I don’t know if I’d call her a porn “star.”
Eddie: And how would you know that?
Anthony: They talked about it on the Today show!
Eddie: Sure they did.
Gretchen: We’re deviating.
Mary: Gretchen, we have little to offer to you. There’s no way it ends without hurt feelings on Pratt’s part. I do think being open and honest is the best strategy here.
Gretchen: But I don’t want to be!
Anthony: Honey, you’re sounding like a stereotypical politician.
Gretchen: What a despicable thing to say.
The next day….
Gretchen: Carol, what’s on the docket today?
Carol: We have a meeting about bridge repairs.
Gretchen: Thrilling.
Carol: It’s not like it’s much different from our normal business.
Gretchen: I don’t know why I need to take part in meetings about bridge repairs. I’m not the one who’ll be out there paving them!
Carol: We need to know how much the repairs will cost in order to put the funding bill together, so we have to meet with the good folks at RIDOT about it. Very standard procedure.
Gretchen: It could just be an email, is all I’m saying.
Carol: What’s got you in such a rush?
Sarita: Well, we all could’ve been killed last week, so I get feeling a bit antsy. I’m still not completely comfortable here again. That was frightening.
Gretchen: Oh, that’s not why.
Carol: Why are you acting strange, then? Besides you just being strange.
Gretchen: I’ll ignore that, because I don’t have the time to bicker with you. I have to break the news to Pratt today that I won’t be endorsing her campaign.
Sarita: Are you also telling her -
Gretchen: Yes, I’ll tell her I’m endorsing Carrie.
Carol: You sure about this?
Gretchen: Positive. It’s what I need to do for Rhode Island.
Carol: You could always kick the can down the road a few more months to avoid awkwardness between you and Pratt.
Gretchen: You’re the one that’s been hurrying me to endorse Carrie.
Carol: I know, but it just sounds so much better in theory than in reality! We don’t need Pratt running around here like some sort of tornado, stirring up trouble, making our lives more difficult.
Gretchen: I’m aware. And I hope she doesn’t take it personal. It’s not personal at all. I just think Carrie’s a better candidate for the times. She’s young, she’s a fresh face, she’s someone who can be around the shape our politics for a long time. I think she could be a future president.
Carol: Don’t tell Pratt that, she’ll be wondering why you don’t think she could be a future president!
Sarita: Come on, even Pratt couldn’t be that - never mind. I forgot who we were talking about for a second.
Gretchen: I think Pratt would be a good governor, she’s evolved a lot over the years I’ve known her. Carrie just connects with people, and she’s an excellent speaker, and I think that’s what we need to stop Jeanne.
Esther: Would Jeanne be that bad? She’s been working with you. Maybe just stay out of it completely and let the chips fall where they may.
Gretchen: She’d be terrible. She doesn’t really agree with me, she’s just working with me to look good to the voters. Her campaign would be dead if she started openly blocking the agenda they voted for.
Carol: Yeah, she can’t win.
Esther: She ran before and lost, I don’t know if you need to put your thumb on the scale to stop her.
Gretchen: She got 32% last time. If she gets that again this time, she’d be in a position to win. The field is very split.
Esther: All right, you’ve convinced me.
Carol: It’s cute you ever thought you had a say in this at all.
Sarita: Well, she has all of Gretchen’s social media passwords. She could go rogue.
Carol: Then she’d be fired. Wait…
Esther: Ah, I love when you razz me like that.
Carol: Razz you? Oh, right. That’s exactly what I’m doing, sure.
Gretchen: all right, let’s go talk bridges so I can rip of this bandaid with Pratt.
Carol: That’s not until noon.
Gretchen: That’s two and a half hours away.
Carol: I’m well aware.
Gretchen: I guess I gotta go tell Pratt now, then. Get it over with.
Carol: Do you need anyone’s assistance?
Sarita: Perhaps your assistant’s?
Gretchen: No, I have to do it alone. No one and nothing to distract me.
Carol: Then… good luck, babe!
Gretchen: Thank you, Chappell Roan.
In Samantha’s office…
Samantha: Gretchen! Oh, it’s so good to see you. Jeanne, you gotta go.
Jeanne: We were -
Samantha: She’s more important, you gotta go.
Gretchen: Great to see you, Jeanne.
Jeanne: I know what this is about, and I think you’re making a mistake. No one knows -
Samantha: Out!
Jeanne: Have a lovely day, both of you.
Samantha: Yeah, you too.
Jeanne leaves.
Gretchen: Is there a reason you put up with her?
Samantha: We’re friends!
Gretchen: So you can still be friends with someone who isn’t backing your campaign. That’s nice to see. Shows character.
Samantha: I agree. What brings you here?
Gretchen: Pratt, uh… Samantha, you know how I value our friendship.
Samantha: Yeah.
Gretchen: Because of that, I thought it was important to tell you in person that I’ve decided that Carrie Lione’s campaign is the campaign I’ll be endorsing this year. You’d be a wonderful governor, but I think ideologically, she and I see eye-to-eye more. I did promise her a favor in order for her to not challenge Jeanne and stir up unrest in the government last year, so I felt it would be disingenuous to not back her here. I think I did play a big part in prompting her run with that promise.
Samantha: All right.
Gretchen: Are you okay with this? I know you were thinking I’d support you, and it was a tough decision.
Samantha: Gretchen, you have to do what you feel is right. I won’t hold it against you. It’s a blow, yes. It’s a disappointment, sure. It doesn’t change my view of you.
Gretchen: Wow. I gotta say, our relationship sure has changed over the years. The Pratt I knew eight years ago -
Samantha: I wouldn’t have taken it well. But I’ve evolved, and I’ve gotten to know you, and I know the person you are. You do what’s right for the state, and I don’t always agree with it, but I respect you. So, it’s all right. I’ll keep fighting, and you can back Carrie, and nothing will change between us.
Gretchen: I really appreciate you being an adult about this. You’ve been a fantastic lieutenant governor, which, again, I couldn’t have seen coming back when you won that primary.
Samantha: We didn’t like each other, did we?
Gretchen: Not particularly.
Samantha: I’m sure you have an ad to go film for Carrie, so maybe you can get going.
Gretchen: Are you upset?
Samantha: Not with you. I just know the hill that I have to climb just got even taller. It’s basically a mountain at this point. But I’ll persevere! Anything can happen in three months!
Gretchen: Exactly! The Oysters might even win a game in three months!
Samantha: Don’t bet on it.
Later that day…
Carrie: Governor Raymond! This office is a mess, I’m so sorry.
Gretchen: You’re pretty busy. I get it. I could barely think straight when I was getting my campaign for governor off the ground. It’s hectic, I can’t imagine what it’s like for people who live in states you can’t drive through within an hour.
Carrie: So what brings you here? I’m sure you’ve got more on your plate than coming to chat with me.
Gretchen: Carrie, I’ve spent a lot of time pondering who I want to support as my successor. It’s a crucial choice, both for me and this state. It’s critical that we elect a governor with both compassion and wisdom. We need a governor who’s for the people, who also has the experience to get things done. We’ve come a long way in the last few years, and I think you’re the candidate who can lead us to the promised land. You are a uniquely skilled candidate, someone who connects with voters. You’re polling neck-and-neck with candidates who’ve been statewide figures for years, all as a first-term legislator. You’re what this party needs, and you’ve got my backing. Whatever you need from me, I’m here for you.
Carrie: Wow! I didn’t expect that!
Gretchen: I always told you I was here for you when you needed it. I meant it.
Carrie: I just expected you to back Samantha. She’s been your #2 for eight years.
Gretchen: Pratt is a great person, and I hope she has a political future down the line. But you’re too special of a political talent to pass up. This state needs you.
Carrie: I don’t want to be greedy, but how do you want to get the word out about your endorsement?
Gretchen: I’m open to anything. I was thinking we do a rally together, and then we release social media content, ads, the works. I’m all-in. But we’ll have to loop Carol in on it all, which is something I did forget to do before I came here.
Carrie: Carol doesn’t know you’re endorsing me?
Gretchen: She knows! She was very supportive. Me telling you right now just wasn’t the plan. I was only going off to tell Pratt I wasn’t backing her. That made me depressed, so I felt I should deliver some good news to cheer myself up.
Carrie: Did it work?
Gretchen: It’s not every day that you get to tell someone that you want them to be the next governor. So that was a neat new experience. Now, a less neat, familiar experience will be getting yelled at by Carol for being gone so long. She likes to keep tabs on my whereabouts during business hours, so I’d better get back to my office.
Carrie: If I win, I want you around in some capacity. You have too much left to give to the state to just hang it up now.
Gretchen: I’ll have to think about it.
Carrie: You do that.
Gretchen: You’re gonna be the next governor, Carrie. I’d tell you to get ready, but I know that you already are.
What did you think of this episode of Raymond Island? Let us know in the comments, and make sure to read the new episode next week!
