Villainous campaign manager Vanessa
Vanessa (Eliza Coupe) is the main villainess from "November Surprise," episode 1.07 of Stumptown (airdate November 20, 2019). She is the campaign manager for Llewelyn Slocombe, who was running for Oregon State Senate.
In the episode, Vanessa hired Dex Parios to dig up dirt on Slocombe's opponent, Dan Gibson, promising a $50,000 payment for her services. Dex joined the Gibson camp as part of an undercover sting, and with the help of Grey McConnell and Liz Melero, she found out Dan's secret: he had engaged in a tryst with a student he had taught 15 years prior to the events.
Dan, a gay man but closeted at the time, was pursued by student Emma Lindstrom, leading to a tryst that resulted in the conception and birth of her son, Jacob Lindstrom. Emma admitted the truth to Dex, only for her brother, Casey Lindstrom, to eject Dex and lash out at her for her plan to publicize Emma's story. However, Dex encountered Vanessa at her home, where Vanessa revealed that Casey (despite his supposed indignation) sold his sister's story to her, and paid Dex (who was questioning whether or not to sell the story) for her services--while relishing in the fact that she would destroy Dan's campaign.
Dex's last encounter with Vanessa came at the county fair, after she informed Dan and his husband, Anthony, about his secret and her original plan to sell it to his opponents. With Dan facing damage to his campaign regardless, he--under Dex's advisement--informed Vanessa and Slocombe that he would drop out of the race in exchange for Jacob's name being kept private. The villainess accepted the terms, and afterwards, the evil Vanessa received her check back from Dex, who referred to it as blood money, only for Vanessa to reply that all money is blood money.