The (Un)popular Vote, by Jasper Sanchez

When a boy at school gets in a fight with bullies because of his sexual orientation and then is expelled, Mark bristles at the injustice.  And he decides to do something about it:  Run for class president.  Most people would point out that student government is not a place of power but Mark is the child of a US Congressman and he's been raised on politics and he understands that a position is what you make of it.  Soon, in a witty nod to the real national political landscape of social media, media buzz, focus groups, and demographic research, Mark is killing the political circuit.

But there's another story.  When Mark came out as a trans male, his father basically disowned him.  To make peace and in hopes of a reconciliation, Mark made a deal with his Dad.  He would change schools and hide his past so as not to embarrass his father.  Part of that deal was maintaining a low profile.  But when Mark hits off his very public campaign, he invites the curious school media to dig into his past, which sabotages the arrangement Mark has made with his family.

I absolutely loved the way Sanchez finds ways to evoke political America in this story of school politics.  The book is actually over five years old, but the things that Sanchez calls out are even more present now than they were when this was written.  The story of Mark's coming out is also moving, albeit a bit underplayed as it becomes a non-event in the end.  Where the story faltered however was the relationship between Mark and his father.  Dad is a very two-dimensional bigot, really incapable of any sort of development and a hugely wasted opportunity.  In other words, the congressman adds nothing to the story and really could have been removed altogether.