Fifteen minutes into “A Run for More,” a clip shows the plunging back of Frankie Gonzales-Wolfe’s cream wedding dress embroidered with pearly white appliqués. Her smooth hands are gently clasped by her husband’s. He, Jeff Wolfe, is poised opposite her in a deep navy United States Air Force uniform. 

“Jeff, I place this ring on your finger, with my everlasting love for you, as my best friend, and as my husband,” Gonzales-Wolfe breathily repeated after the wedding officiant while holding back gleeful tears. 

“A Run for More,” which has partnered with multiple organizations including the Human Rights Campaign, concluded on Monday, May 15 the 11-episode eighth season of “Reel South,” a Public Broadcasting Service documentary series. “Reel South” presented feature-length and short documentaries and used diverse voices to tell stories about the complicated heritage of those who live in the South. It was produced in conjunction with a variety of Southern PBS affiliates. 

“A Run for More” was filmed across three years; however, its storyline began in 2016 when Washington, D.C.-based filmmaker Ray Whitehouse met Gonzales-Wolfe in San Antonio, Texas, her hometown. There, Gonzales-Wolfe commanded a legion of local volunteers for former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign for president.  

Whitehouse — who was a part of the Washington Post’s Pulitzer-prize winning team for the paper’s coverage of the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection — had been living in San Antonio after he’d “moved [there] for love,” and he spent his days documenting the realities of the gritty work required to volunteer for presidential campaigns. 

“I think of politics … as more about how do we organize ourselves, allocate power and move forward as a society,” he said.

Consequently, he developed a friendship with Gonzales-Wolfe that saw him document moments in her personal life, including her wedding, which took place the Saturday after Clinton’s defeat and against the backdrop of dismayed Democratic supporters. 

Almost three years later, Gonzales-Wolfe became the first transgender woman to run for city council in District 8 in San Antonio. When she called Whitehouse, he was excited.

“[Frankie] is just a joy to be around and she kinda has that intangible energy, and you just want to spend time with a person like that,” said Whitehouse. “What was inspiring to me was that she was trying to do something that had never been done before. And despite the fact that there were a lot of challenges, she was willing to face those challenges head on.”

Though “A Run for More” doesn’t end with a desired political victory for Gonzales-Wolfe, it’s a foray into the complexities of local politics, especially unseating an incumbent. Gonzales-Wolfe, who has worked in political campaigns since the 1990s, said the documentary is about “the Dos and Don’ts of campaigning” for trans candidates.

“I think it’s going to allow someone the opportunity to see my truth and be like, ‘One of the major mistakes that Frankie made was she didn’t own who she is as a person. And she had to learn the hard way’,” said Gonzales-Wolfe. “It wasn’t my ideas or what I was trying to implement for the community to enhance it…It really had to do with one aspect, which was who I am.”

Fully accepting her trans identity was an uphill battle especially spotlighted during a Transgender Lobby Day in Austin. At the event, Gonzales-Wolfe met trans activists from around the state, of whom she said she felt like a guest to their “sisterhood.”

“I’m embarrassed right now,” she reflected on the day, in between tears, in the documentary. She sat barefaced opposite Wolfe, her husband, in their kitchen with only her glasses on. “I felt for me, a trans woman in a group of trans women, I was a visitor.”

“Don’t be ashamed of your story; that’s your life,” Wolfe replied. “You can’t be judged for your life.”

Lobby Day not only taught Gonzales-Wolfe about the heartbreaking reality of homelessness and neglect other trans women faced, an unfamiliar experience for her, but also about her privilege as a passing, married trans woman with a support system. It helped show her how she was running her campaign as though she were cisgender. 

She recalled vehemently countering some of the activists’ points, while drawing on her knowledge and experience in politics. However, her friend and Houston activist Monica Roberts encouraged her to listen. 

“I was called out at the table we were sitting at pretty roughly,” said Gonzales-Wolfe. 

This and other experiences became the foundation for her self-actualization and increased her confidence in her identity. Now as chief of staff to the commissioner for Precinct 1 in San Antonio, she uses her role to advocate for issues such as helping small business and improving infrastructure, and also championing trans causes. 

For Whitehouse, this is part of the point of the documentary — it contributes to the drought of representation of trans legislators in the country. Only 50 legislators in the U.S. identify as either a trans man or trans woman, according to data from Out for America – LGBTQ+ Victory Institute.

“Trans people are having laws made about them but they aren’t [a part of] the legislative process,” he said. 

He added that the documentary is also about love and community.

“[It shows] what it means to try and understand who you are,” said Whitehouse.

Above all, “A Run for More” is a love story about Gonzales-Wolfe and her husband and their finding each other. Although wedding pictures could show this, the documentary provides the context lost in photos.

“I’m so grateful for everyone that fought for my right to marry the love of my life,” Wolfe, the husband, said to cheers from guests at their purple-lit wedding reception. “I promise all of you, and her, that we’re not going to stop fighting for that right.”