“It was a war!  Well, a battle at least. Some are won and some are setbacks, but you choose to never accept defeat, so even when you don’t win, you also don’t lose.”

That was an actual conversation I had with myself several weeks after my 2019 run for Mississippi state attorney general as I sat triaging my still gaping wounds and beginning my personal and professional recovery. It was the start of my private after-action review, the benefits of which were engrained in me during my 32 years of military service. The after-action review helps us identify lessons learned and categorize the actions that we took as ones that should either be sustained or improved upon. It’s a process that increases the likelihood of success as we continue to move toward our objectives, and it also allows us to recognize our moments of achievement even when we fall short of the overall goal. These are the lessons learned from my after-action report:

Know your why. It was, in fact, a war, but I had not gone into it on a whim. I went on purpose to fight for the people of my state. I felt then and now that the people of Mississippi deserve a fighter, a true leader, and frankly a Black woman in statewide office. I believe my state, like many others, needs a Black Woman to lead us out of the muck and mire previous leaders have placed us in. The old guard can’t and won’t do it, but effective leadership change is not a straight or quick trajectory. It’s a chipping away at decay. With my run, I helped to expose and weaken the corrosion, so the war wasn’t lost and my why remains a steadfast banner.  

My objective was not clear. While my purpose for running was clear, my route to the finish line was not. I had no trouble offering compelling ideas and thoughtful answers to the myriad questions posed to me by voters and reporters. But when I asked my team what is my winning number and how do I get there, I couldn’t get a clear answer. While the race was my first campaign, running for office is not new and it’s critical for candidates to have a detailed strategy for reaching their voters and getting to their winning number. 

My team wasn’t properly equipped for battle. Lord knows, my family put on all kinds of amour and took to the battlefield with me, and I am forever thankful to them. But the team that I selected, while talented, did not possess the right set of skills to manage and run a statewide campaign—especially one that would draw national attention and resources. It required a leader who understood strategy and who could coordinate with a field manager, communications officer, and finance strategist. I didn’t have that. Unfortunately, I didn’t trust my gut and make the necessary changes, so I found myself trying to run my campaign and be the candidate—the equivalent of trying to simultaneously be a general and a battlefield soldier. You have to know who you need in your formation and then take action to get them in place. 

Allies are important. The Bible talks about a woman using what was in her hand to make a cake that led to a life-sustaining outpouring. What’s in most of our hands is our cellphone, and in it is a list of contacts that can lead to a life-sustaining outpouring for your campaign. My phone contacts became my first call list, and it was those folks who laid the foundation that allowed others to see me as “viable.”  (That word is still a trigger for me as it lacks an equity lens that I think must be addressed, but that is for another article.) Those contacts helped me connect with others and so on. One phone contact introduced me to Higher Heights. The network that was built from that introduction has blossomed into relationships across the country with amazing, talented women whom I can support and who I know will support me as we all work to lift the voices of Black women and ensure we are elevated to seats of power.

A different route can get you to the same destination. Will I run again?  It’s a valid question, but to me it’s not the most important one. The one that I remain focused on is how can I best do the work of achieving justice and equity so we all can experience the freedoms that flow from a system that is inclusive. Until we create that reality, the work continues.