{"id":2312,"date":"2026-03-27T12:27:57","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T12:27:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/owspakistan.com\/?p=2312"},"modified":"2026-03-27T12:27:57","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T12:27:57","slug":"14-year-running-governor-teen-vermonts-general-election-131465928","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/owspakistan.com\/?p=2312","title":{"rendered":"14-year-old running for governor 1st teen to get on Vermont’s general election ballot"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

STOWE, Vt. — <\/span>Looking back, gubernatorial candidate Dean Roy says his political ambitions started in the eighth grade. And by that he means, last year.<\/p>\n

After working as a legislative page at the Vermont Statehouse, the 14-year-old freshman at Stowe High School now has his sights set on the corner office. In November, he’ll be the first candidate for governor under age 18 to appear on the state’s general election ballot. <\/p>\n

\u201cI don’t expect necessarily to win,\u201d he said. \u201cWhat I do expect is to start the movement, and get more young people to come in behind me and say, \u2018Yeah, we also want to make change.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Another eighth-grader, Ethan Sonneborn, sought the Democratic nomination for governor in 2018 but finished last in a four-way primary. Roy secured his spot in the general election by creating his own third party, the Freedom and Unity party. Both were able to run because the state constitution sets no minimum age for gubernatorial candidates, requiring only that candidates have resided in the state for four years.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know it sounds crazy, a 14-year-old running for governor, but honestly, look at the people in charge right now,\u201d Roy said in a post on his campaign\u2019s Instagram page. \u201cThey\u2019ve been doing this forever and things still aren\u2019t working.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nearly all other states set minimum age requirements for governor, often 30 years old. In Kansas, lawmakers added a requirement that gubernatorial candidates be at least 25 years old in 2018 after six teenagers<\/a> ran for office.<\/p>\n

Peter Teachout, a professor at Vermont Law and Graduate School, has a different take than Roy on Vermont’s constitution. He points to a section in the document referring to what qualifies someone to be \u201centitled to the privileges of a voter,\u201d and that is that they must be 18 years of age. Even under Roy’s interpretation, Teachout doesn’t predict a win for the teenager.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn theory, a 4-year-old could run for governor. Should we be worried about it? No,\u201d he said. \u201cVermonters can be a little cantankerous and provocative just for the fun of it, but it is not something they are likely to support in this context.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Roy’s former history teacher, James Carpenter, said he thinks it’s great that Roy is giving it his all. Though most 14-year-olds aren\u2019t concerned with property taxes or health care, Carpenter describes Roy as an \u201cold soul\u201d with endless curiosity. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt just really shows what type of kid Dean is. He\u2019s very earnest in what he\u2019s doing. There\u2019s no gimmick behind this,\u201d he said. \u201cI think he blends that youthful optimism with some pragmatism that few kids have.\u201d<\/p>\n

Roy, who said he doesn’t identify with either major party, said housing is the most important issue facing the state. He’s also thought about how he’d juggle school with a full-time job as governor, saying he’d consider online classes and would do his homework at night after work.<\/p>\n

The current governor, Republican Phil Scott, applauds Roy\u2019s interest in politics and public service but questions whether someone so young is ready for the responsibilities that come with running a state. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe believes it\u2019s important for our youth to get involved,\u201d said press secretary Amanda Wheeler. \u201cBut the Governor also believes that a teenager may not be best suited to serve in that role given the lack of experience and lived perspectives youth have at that point in their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

Roy disagrees that age has anything to do with whether a candidate is fit to run for office. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I\u2019m aiming for is that these career politicians look at me and they say, \u2018Oh my God, he actually has a chance to disrupt things,\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cIf I can get people to think that I am a threat to them, then I know that\u2019s been a success. Because what I want is to show them that the youth have a voice. We\u2019re gonna make change. The future is now.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Associated Press reporter Holly Ramer contributed to this report from Concord, New Hampshire.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

STOWE, Vt. — Looking back, gubernatorial candidate Dean Roy says his political ambitions started in the eighth grade. And by that he means, last year. After working as a legislative page at the Vermont Statehouse, the 14-year-old freshman at Stowe High School now has his sights set on the corner office. In November, he’ll be<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2313,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[219,197,62,57,395,31],"tags":[883,29,879,9,324,27,882,107,881,38,880],"class_list":["post-2312","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gear-gear-news-and-events","category-general","category-news","category-newsletters","category-security-security-news","category-us","tag-883","tag-article","tag-constitutional-law","tag-education","tag-elections","tag-general-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-politics","tag-teens","tag-u-s-news","tag-voting"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/owspakistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2312","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/owspakistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/owspakistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/owspakistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/owspakistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2312"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/owspakistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2312\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/owspakistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/owspakistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/owspakistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2312"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/owspakistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}