Vermont Teen, 14, Qualifies for Governor’s Race

Fourteen-year-old Dean Roy can’t vote, but the politically ambitious teenager will appear on Vermont’s November ballot for governor as the youngest candidate in state history.Mr. Roy, a freshman at Stowe High School, secured his spot in the general election by founding his own third party, the Freedom and Unity Party. Under Vermont’s constitution, gubernatorial candidates need only have resided in the state for four years and face no minimum age requirement.The budding politico outlines his positions on his campaign Instagram page, where he describes himself as a “centrist” whose loyalties lie with Vermonters, not political parties. “Listen, I know the stereotypes. ‘Centrists offense,’ ‘centrists pander to the right,’ ‘centrists are afraid to stand for anything,’” Mr. Roy says in one video. “Thats not me. I call myself a centrist because I refuse to let any other ideology think for me.”His campaign website fleshes out his platform further, including his pledge to audit Vermont’s healthcare system, his opposition to the current administration’s electric vehicle mandate — “a clear example of government overreach,” he writes — and his promise to protect the state from what he calls an “increasing authoritarian federal government.”Mr. Roy also plans to ease the tax burden on middle- and lower-class Vermonters by raising taxes on short-term rentals and large corporations and increasing water extraction fees for bottling companies and data centers.According to his website, Mr. Roy has long been “politically active” but grew more serious about running after working as a legislative page at the Vermont Statehouse last year. Outside politics, he enjoys Nordic skiing, making maple syrup with his family, and following Formula One.For all his ambition, Mr. Roy is not naive about his chances. “I don’t expect necessarily to win,” he told the Associated Press. “What I do expect is to start the movement, and get more young people to come in behind me and say, ‘Yeah, we also want to make change.'”Still, Mr. Roy has already worked out how to balance the governorship with his course load, telling the AP he would consider switching to online classes and doing homework at night.“What I’m aiming for is that these career politicians look at me and they say, ‘Oh my God, he actually has a chance to disrupt things,'” Mr. Roy said. “If I can get people to think that I am a threat to them, then I know that’s been a success. Because what I want is to show them that the youth have a voice. We’re gonna make change. The future is now.”

Vermont Teen, 14, Qualifies for Governor’s Race

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