The previously unknown Democrat who has a shot to make it to the House of Representatives after House Majority Leader Eric Cantor's shocking defeat Tuesday once wrote a rather racy novel.
Trammell is a college professor who has written several works of non-fiction, however he also authored the 2001 novel "Sarah's Last Secret," which includes a politically charged romance.
"I was always the one to start our wild lovemaking. I always wore my heart on my sleeve. I was the Democrat, and Sarah was the Republican. I drank Coke, she liked Pepsi," Trammell wrote in the book.
The protagonist, who like Trammell is a Kentucky transplant named Jack, is looking for love. A college student attending Virginia Tech, Jack noted at one point he was "just as horny as ever."
Fictional Jack eventually falls in love with a girl name Sarah.
"I was usually the one who initiated physical contact, although the passion in her embrace was always intense, no matter who started it. We made love several times that weekend—more than that, actually—throwing mud in the face of all the theories that Sarah Collins was just a tease. It was not a first for either of us in the physical sense of sex, but it was a singular first between the two of us and emotionally charged with indescribable power," he said at another point in the novel.
According to Trammell's Amazon author page, he "has hundreds of stories, poems and articles to his credit, as well as two dozen book credits. He lives in central Virginia on a small farm with his family, and currently has a vampire novel in the works."
Trammell didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. He is running against Tea Party-backed Republican Dave Brat, who pulled off a shocking upset in the primary against Cantor. Both Brat and Trammell are professors at Randolph-Macon College.