Ms. Cahill for Congress: One Fearless Teacher, Her Sixth-Grade Class, and the Election That Changed Their Lives Forever

The remarkable story of a teacher who ran a grassroots campaign for Congress . . . from her sixth-grade classroom



You can't run for office in this country unless you're a millionaire or you know a lot of millionaires.” This offhand remark from one of her sixth-grade students dismayed public school teacher Tierney Cahill. When she told the kids that in a democracy anyone can run for office, they dared her to prove it-by running herself. She accepted their challenge on one condition: that they, her students, manage the campaign.



A single mom with three kids and more than one job to make ends meet, Cahill was in for a decidedly uphill battle, especially as a Democrat in largely Republican Reno, Nevada. But Cahill had always felt a responsibility to make a positive impact on an increasingly inequitable world. With her eager students leading the way, and a war chest of just seven thousand dollars (compared to opponents with one hundred times the funds), Cahill not only got her name on the ballot but she won the Democratic primary. And as the campaign moved forward, Cahill's students blossomed beyond her wildest expectations.

Ms. Cahill for Congress is the inspiring story of an exceptional teacher who proved that anyone really can run for office-and even without money or connections, make a difference in a great many lives.

Tierney Cahill teaches English to middle-school students and social studies to high-schoolers. She also tutors struggling students on her own time and coaches middle-school basketball and varsity softball. Formerly a Washoe County School District's Multicultural Representative, she has served as an elected local, state, and national teachers' union representive. In 2000, nominated by her students' parents, Cahill was awarded the Best in Education Award from the Reno Gazette-Journal, as well as the Women's Role Model Award from Nevada's attorney general.



Linden Gross is a bestselling author and co-author. She ghost-wrote Julia Butterfly Hill's national bestseller The Legacy of Luna and has co-authored three other books. She is the sole author of Surviving a Stalker: Everything You Need to Know to Keep Yourself Safe and To Have or to Harm, the first book written about the stalking of ordinary people. Gross is also the founder of the Stalking Survivors' Sanctuary and Solutions, a nonprofit organization.

About Tierney Cahill