McKenzie Alumna Dyer Interns With Kustoff on Capitol Hill

There were several moments during Dani Dyer’s congressional internship with Representative David Kustoff in which she had to stop and give herself a reality check, realizing how lucky she was to be in her position.

It happened on nights she watched the sun go down behind the Capitol building while playing softball with congressional staffers. It happened when she watched Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries complete his eight-hour, 44-minute “magic minute” speech to delay the passing of Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill.” It happened again one day later when the bill passed and she celebrated 20 feet away from House Speaker Mike Johnson and Majority Leader Steve Scalise as “YMCA” by the Village People played throughout the room.

Amidst ever-present press-coverage in the United States capitol, Dyer saw political history happen before her eyes. They were moments the McKenzie native never in her wildest dreams thought she would experience.

Dyer, a 2022 graduate of McKenzie High School, was a junior at Mississippi State University when she realized she wanted to work in D.C. Inspired by her Chi Omega sorority sisters’ online posts about working on Capitol Hill, she researched and found a girl from Jackson, Tenn., who interned with Representative Kustoff the summer before.

As a double-major in supply chain logistics and marketing, Dyer did not necessarily have much legal experience when she applied. She had thought about attending law school post-grad and took several legal classes, but that was the extent of her experience. Unlike her fellow interns, she didn’t have any familial connections to Kustoff or any congressional staffers. She had never even traveled to Washington, D.C., before.

When she arrived at the nation’s capitol in May, Kustoff and his staffers were wrist-deep in work for the “One Big Beautiful Bill.” Dyer and four other interns were tasked with answering phone calls and emails from constituents and giving Capitol tours.

The tasks were a big learning curve for Dyer, who said she had to relearn many facts about America’s history to give Capitol tours.

“When we learned history in school, it wasn’t taken very seriously,” Dyer said. “Getting up there [to D.C.] and having to give these tours…Something I’ll know and will talk about for the rest of my life is the history of our great country.”

She also learned the ins and outs of Kustoff’s office, learning who to pass information to while answering phone calls and emails from constituents. At times, she said, she would take a more secretarial role. She would write memos and conduct research on bills getting passed, passing information along to staffers.

“Nothing is easy here,” Dyer said she learned, “and constituents’ voices really matter. When they say, ‘Call your congressman,’ call them. They listen.”

Sometimes, she would be asked to follow alongside Kustoff in his Ways and Means Committee hearings and press interviews.

Representative Kustoff noticed Dyer’s interest and willingness to learn. He also took note that Dyer was his only intern from small town west Tennessee, Kustoff’s congressional district.

“You don’t hear about people from around here going to D.C.,” Dyer said. “That was a big deal to our congressman, that we had someone in our office who could really represent and be a face to this area.”

Halfway through the first summer session, Dyer received a call from Kustoff’s chief of staff asking if she wanted to extend her internship.

“I wasn’t opposed to staying longer,” said Dyer. “I wasn’t ready to leave yet. I was just getting into the groove of things.”

After calling her parents — Susan and Ryan Dyer — it was settled. Dyer would spend the second summer session in the capitol, honing her skills.

Giving Capitol tours became second-nature, as did talking to any office visitors — from CEOs and head lobbyists to history teachers who wanted to quiz her history knowledge. Soon enough, Dyer found herself helping run a campaign, the Kustoff Cookout at Snyder Farms on July 20.

“We got to make lots of phone calls, just talking to people back home and inviting them,” said Dyer. She helped Kustoff organize RSVPs and, eventually, found herself flying back home to west Tennessee for the event. It was the first time she had been home all summer.

She returned from her internship on August 1 with an entirely new perspective on politics:

“From west Tennessee, I thought we were forgotten sometimes. I thought nobody in D.C. worried about us,” said Dyer. “But no. He [Kustoff] is, and he is very respected on the Hill. It was very rewarding to see that who’s representing us has the utmost respect from others.”

Going into her senior year at Mississippi State University, Dyer’s focusing on completing her degree and interning with her dean’s office, marketing and creating content for the business college’s social media pages. But her experience in D.C. will live in her mind, no doubt influencing her post-graduation plans.