The Unity Gambit - Inspiration

I’ve always had a love of American history and government. It’s fascinated me from a young age. This “American Experiment” in governance really is incredible—and it’s something I firmly believe in. In many regards, this love helped build the foundations that would become The Unity Gambit.

In high school, I had a couple of experiences that showed me, firsthand, how an idea becomes a bill, goes through the process of being debated and voted on, and is either signed into law or vetoed. It helped that our state representative was also one of my history and government teachers. (Special shout-out here to Mr. Pelowski! 😊)

In my junior year, I was one of many students selected for the Minnesota House High School Page Program, where I would visit St. Paul for a week and be a page on the floor of the Minnesota House of Representatives. A year later, I participated in the annual Winona Model Legislature (The latter is the reason why Kyle Kane was a state senator before running for congress). When writing The Unity Gambit, I wanted to highlight these experiences, albeit fictionally, in gratitude for those opportunities and to remind readers of the importance of participation in our system of government.

The actual storyline that would become The Unity Gambit didn’t coalesce until 2016 or 2017, but it’s genesis really started all the way back in 1997.