The initial introduction between Victoria Everett and Tracy Mitrano was as traditional as it gets. They had a friend in common who thought they might make a match, and both agreed to meet.
A few days before Christmas in 2016 the friend brought Ms. Everett over to Dr. Mitrano’s house, who then lived in Ithaca, N.Y. And then their easygoing set up became a different, though also classic, love story.
“I fell in love with her the minute I saw her, right through my screen door,” Dr. Mitrano said.
Both had been through two previous marriages, first to men (they eventually learned that they had been married on exactly the same date) and then to women. Both had grown children. They also shared a sense of humor.
“We were laughing from the minute we met,” Ms. Everett said. “It was just such a fun conversation that I knew she was something special.”
The two had such a good time together that day that Ms. Everett tagged along to an open house that Dr. Mitrano had already planned to attend that evening. Afterward, they went to a cocktail bar in Ithaca and stayed until closing.
“We just hit it off,” Ms. Everett said.
A few days later, Ms. Everett went to Dr. Mitrano’s lake house in Penn Yan, N.Y., where the couple now live. On what they consider their official first date, perhaps a day or two after that, at a restaurant in Watkins Glen, N.Y., the couple shared a first kiss.
Ms. Everett, now 54, is an early childhood specialist and kindergarten teacher at Watkins Glen Elementary School. She graduated from St. John Fisher College in Pittsford, N.Y., and received a master’s degree in early childhood education from Rivier College in Nashua, N.H.
Dr. Mitrano, 62, is the Democratic candidate for the 23rd Congressional district, which stretches from Lake Erie to across the border with Pennsylvania to the suburbs of Binghamton, N.Y. She is also a cybersecurity policy consultant, and retired from Cornell as the director of information-technology policy. She graduated from the University of Rochester, received a doctoral degree in history from SUNY Binghamton and received a law degree from Cornell.
This is Dr. Mitrano’s second try at winning the Congressional seat. She told Ms. Everett in July 2017, just a few months after the two got together, that she was considering entering politics.
“I don’t know if she thought I was kidding or crazy or both,” Dr. Mitrano said.
But soon the two were on the campaign trail together, and having a great time. They still are.
“We really enjoy being on the road together,” Ms. Everett said. “It’s just been fun.”
Ms. Mitrano lost that first election, but had vowed during the campaign that she’d run again if defeated. “I predicted it would take two tries,” she said.
“Her determination is just a force,” Ms. Everett said.
A few days before the 2018 election, Dr. Mitrano proposed. It was Ms. Everett’s birthday, so the friends and the cake and the trip to the Chautauqua Institution, in Chautauqua, N.Y., were to be expected. But the ring was a surprise.
On June 30, the couple were married at the home of Janet and Dennis Barrett, friends who live in Keuka Park, N.Y., and have a deck that overlooks one of the region’s Finger Lakes. The Very Rev. Dan Burner, an Episcopal priest, officiated, and about 15 guests attended.
Dr. Mitrano said that when she began dating again after her second divorce she had a set of criteria in her mind for the person who would suit her. And then she met Ms. Everett.
“I gave up the checklist of ‘where you went to school’ and ‘what degrees you had,’” she said, “and then I found the love of my life.”
