Dana Perino brought her debut novel, Purple State, to an event with Westporter Danielle Dobin, where the anchor and former White House press secretary talked about the book’s mix of campaign politics, humor and romance. Books were available for purchase and signing as Perino met readers interested in her move from political commentary to fiction.

Purple State is set in Cedar Falls, Wisconsin, a swing district in a pivotal state, and follows Dorothy “Dot” Clark, a 25-year-old New York City PR professional who heads there for a high-stakes political campaign. She is joined by her best friends, Mary and Harper, and is also drawn to Danny Dawson, a truck-driving, hockey-loving local whose presence gives the story its unexpected love story.

The event mattered because Perino is not just a familiar television face. She is a co-anchor of America’s Newsroom, a co-host of The Five and one of channel’s key election analysts, with a long résumé that includes serving as the first Republican woman White House press secretary for President George W. Bush. She is also the #1 New York Times bestselling author of And the Good News Is..., Let Me Tell You About Jasper, Everything Will Be Okay and I Wish Someone Had Told Me, and hosts the podcast Perino on Politics.

Her writing fans may recognize the same practical voice in Purple State that carried those earlier books, but this one stretches into fiction without losing its political edge. The book blends high-stakes politics with humor and heart, and the setting in a pivotal swing district gives the story a real-world pressure that mirrors the world Perino has spent years explaining on television.

Perino’s connection with Dobin added another layer to the appearance. The two became roommates in a group house on Capitol Hill in 1995 and lived directly across the street from the Library of Congress, a detail that gave the event a sense of personal history alongside the book promotion. Perino, who lives in New York City with her husband, Peter McMahon, and their dog, Percy, has built a public career out of political fluency, but Purple State shows she is now asking readers to follow her into a fictional campaign of her own.

That makes the next step clear: the book tour is no longer just a rollout for a debut novel. It is a test of whether Perino’s audience will follow her from analysis to storytelling, and the early signs suggest that many already have.