In Chap­ter Twen­ty-Two, titled “Ambi­tions,” the nar­ra­tive cen­ters around John Lewis’s polit­i­cal jour­ney, focus­ing on the late 1990s as he aims for high­er lead­er­ship roles with­in the Demo­c­ra­t­ic Par­ty. By 1998, with a decade in Con­gress, Lewis is rec­og­nized as a sig­nif­i­cant moral author­i­ty, dubbed “the con­science of the Con­gress.” His wife, Lil­lian, is a crit­i­cal sup­port­er of his ambi­tions, push­ing him to pur­sue a run against Repub­li­can Sen­a­tor Paul Coverdell, although polling sug­gests he would­n’t win. Instead, he turns his atten­tion to a poten­tial whip posi­tion in the House.

As the polit­i­cal land­scape shifts, Lewis posi­tions him­self for the whip job amid ris­ing Demo­c­ra­t­ic for­tunes. How­ev­er, the entry of Nan­cy Pelosi, a for­mi­da­ble can­di­date with a strong sup­port net­work, com­pli­cates his ambi­tions. While Pelosi active­ly cam­paigns and con­sis­tent­ly gains endorse­ments, Lewis’s cam­paign lacks the aggres­sive fer­vor need­ed to com­pete, despite his wide­spread pop­u­lar­i­ty and strong moral lega­cy.

Lewis grap­ples with feel­ings of reluc­tance and uncer­tain­ty regard­ing the nom­i­na­tions, which con­trast with his com­mit­ment to civ­il rights and pub­lic ser­vice. He dreads that a lead­er­ship fail­ure could over­shad­ow his con­tri­bu­tions to the civ­il rights move­ment. As Lewis orga­nizes his cam­paign, his staff notices his lack of enthu­si­asm, empha­siz­ing Lil­lian’s stronger ambi­tion for him. Despite attempts to present him­self as a uni­fy­ing can­di­date who bridges fac­tion­al divides with­in the par­ty, Lewis strug­gles to secure the endorse­ments nec­es­sary for a suc­cess­ful cam­paign.

When push comes to shove, and as Lewis acknowl­edges lim­it­ed sup­port, he ulti­mate­ly with­draws his can­di­da­cy, endors­ing Hoy­er instead. This deci­sion reflects his acknowl­edg­ment of the polit­i­cal real­i­ties and the deep ties that dic­tate the alliances with­in the par­ty. As the Democ­rats fail to regain the House in the 2000 elec­tions, Lewis remains a chief deputy whip, while Lil­lian’s sup­port remains unwa­ver­ing.

The chap­ter not only high­lights Lewis’s polit­i­cal strug­gles but also illu­mi­nates Lillian’s sig­nif­i­cant role as his advi­sor and moti­va­tor, show­cas­ing her impact on his career despite their phys­i­cal dis­tances and indi­vid­ual pur­suits in life. Lillian’s ambi­tion and pro­tec­tive nature under­score their inter­con­nect­ed­ness, reveal­ing the strength of their part­ner­ship amid the demands and pres­sures of polit­i­cal life.