Hunter

Hunter is a minor character who enters the novel as Alexander Gabriel Claremont-Diaz's cubicle mate during the 2020 presidential campaign. He is introduced with the epithet "WASPy Hunter," a label that immediately marks him as a type rather than a fully developed individual. He is from Boston, and his face is described as "extremely punchable," a judgment delivered from Alex's perspective that establishes Hunter as an object of mild, comic irritation. He is a staffer on the campaign, and his presence in the narrative is defined almost entirely by his relationship to Alex and the campaign's daily rhythms.

Introduction and Role in the Campaign Office

Hunter first appears when Alex, eager to prove himself and impatient with his remaining semester, is given a badge, a desk in a shared cubicle, and a cubicle mate. The introduction is swift and functional: Hunter is the WASPy Bostonian whose face Alex finds punchable, and he immediately begins asking Alex "five hundred questions about his mom." This barrage of questions about Ellen Claremont, the presidential candidate, is a reminder of Alex's unique position within the campaign—he is not just a staffer but the First Son, a fact that Hunter seems both aware of and unable to stop probing. Alex, for his part, "very professionally does not punch him" and simply gets to work, a line that establishes the dynamic of restrained irritation that will define their interactions.

The Social Dynamics of the Campaign

Hunter becomes a recurring point of reference in Alex's reflections on the campaign's social culture. While Nora Holleran, Alex's best friend, makes easy friends with her coworkers in the polling section, Alex finds himself surrounded by acquaintances rather than genuine connections. Hunter is part of this landscape of superficiality: he is one of the staffers who constantly tries to convince Alex to come to his improv shows, an invitation that Alex repeatedly declines. The improv shows become a running joke, a symbol of the perfectly pleasant but ultimately unsatisfying social world that Alex inhabits. Hunter is also part of the broader pattern of attention Alex receives—at least four staffers of various genders hit on him, and Hunter's persistent invitations are of a piece with this environment where Alex's charm initiative works all too well, drawing people who want the idea of him rather than the person.

The Texas Binder Incident

The most significant moment involving Hunter occurs when Alex returns to the campaign office after a triumphant rally at Minute Maid Park in Houston, where his mother's speech drew thousands and the line wrapped around the block twice. Still riding the high of the moment, Alex rounds the corner into his cubicle to find Hunter holding the Texas Binder. The binder, a crucial piece of campaign strategy, has been left on Alex's desk, and Hunter has picked it up, casually suggesting it might be a new project they were being put on. Alex's reaction is immediate and sharp: he demands whether he goes onto Hunter's side of the cubicle and turns off his Dropkick Murphys Spotify station, no matter how much he wants to. The exchange reveals the boundaries of their relationship—Hunter is oblivious to the significance of the binder and the stakes of the campaign, while Alex is fiercely protective of his work and his role. The incident also highlights the contrast between Hunter's casual approach to the campaign and Alex's intense investment, a contrast that underscores Alex's growing frustration with the mundane desk work of focus groups and data.

The Victory Celebration

Hunter reappears in the novel's climactic scene, the celebration of the 2020 election victory. In the chaos of the arena, amid the falling balloons and the press of bodies, Alex spots Hunter hoisting another staffer up on his shoulders. The image is one of pure, uncomplicated joy, a stark contrast to the earlier scenes of mild irritation and boundary-setting. Hunter is part of the hundred campaign staffers and volunteers crying and shouting in disbelief and joy, a collective that includes Liam and Spencer raising their beers in a toast, Cash dancing on a chair, Amy waving her phone for her wife on FaceTime, and Zahra and Shaan aggressively making out against a stack of yard signs. In this moment, Hunter is no longer just Alex's punchable cubicle mate; he is one of the many people who made the victory possible, a face in the crowd of the Lometa Longshot and the long-awaited blue Texas.

Narrative Significance

Hunter's role in the novel is that of a comic foil and a marker of the ordinary. He represents the world of the campaign that Alex both belongs to and feels alienated from—a world of improv shows, Dropkick Murphys, and casual curiosity about the First Son's mother. His presence highlights Alex's isolation within the campaign, the gap between the acquaintances who think they know him from his New York Magazine profile and the one person, Henry, who truly knows him. At the same time, Hunter's appearance at the victory celebration ties the personal story of Alex and Henry to the larger collective achievement, reminding the reader that their private romance unfolded within a public, communal triumph. Hunter is a flat character in the Forsterian sense, built around a single idea—the WASPy, slightly annoying, well-meaning coworker—but that flatness is precisely what makes him effective as a contrast to the round, evolving figures of Alex and Henry.