Linet ‘Toto’ Chepkorir: The 24-year-old underdog surprises friend and foe with her win in Bomet

Everybody loves a good underdog story, a fish-out-of-the-water tale; when the perceived nobody pulls themselves up from under the rocks by their bootstraps and kicks up a storm within the status quo, nothing is more deserving of a Netflix documentary than that moment.

In the brutal world of politics, these stories are few and far-between. Every once in a while some ballsy ambitious, barefooted green-as-an-avocado fellow with nothing but a dollar and a dream springs up and shocks the big dogs with their big bucks and big cars and big egos and big foot.

Linet Chepkorir is certainly one of those people; the ballsy kind, not the ones with big foot.

Toto, as she is popularly known, is by and large the youngest aspirant of any political seat in the whole of Bomet County.

In spite of this, when the little-known Bachelor of Business Administration graduate from Chuka University goes back home and climbs onto her creaky bed tonight, she will first need to empty the contents of her skirt pocket.

Inside it, she will find her house keys, chewing gum, Vaseline, a few coins, and a couple presumably more moneyed, more polished, older, heck even better-looking fellow female aspirants who – prior to this day – probably never gave her the time of day.

The 24-year-old has braved heaven and earth and everything in between to pull an outstanding albeit surprise victory and land the Deputy President William Ruto-led United Democratic Alliance (UDA) party ticket for the Bomet Woman Representative seat.

She garnered 53,944 votes, and was followed by Beatrice Chepkorir (20,495), Chepkoech Mutai (16,644), Chepkirui Faith (6,863), and Byegon Edah (4,906).

This, ostensibly, puts her one foot in the door, considering the fact that Bomet is a largely UDA zone, and any aspirant that clinches the ticket will almost certainly go all the way.

“For a long time, women and youth have been condemned when seeking elective positions across the country. It is a narrative we are seeking to turn around and enable all of us – the rich and the poor – to compete on an even playground based on ideas and manifestos,” she so aptly told the Nation newspaper during a past interview.

Overlooked and under-funded, yet Toto still trods on. Undeterred. Unbothered. Unabated. Holding onto nothing but the people and the will of God.

Because if Americans – people who consider themselves the smartest human beings on earth – could elect a man who appeared on TV weekly to tell them “You’re fired” while sporting hideous hair, then surely, Toto is good enough for the good people of Bomet.

Because sometimes, every so often, even the underdog deserves a win. Sometimes, rightfully so. Forget Trump.