History was made at a crowded bar in Morrisville Sunday afternoon, as a Democratic challenger to Governor Phil Scott kicked off her campaign."I’m Christine Hallquist and I’m running to be the Governor of Vermont."
With those words, Hallquist became the first openly transgender person to officially run for governor as a major party candidate in any state in the country. But she says she hopes voters will move past that.
"My transgender role, although it will be historic, my wish is that everybody just overlooks that and looks at the policies and my resume and the history of what I’ve done."
The campaign has posted Hallquist's full kickoff speech on YouTube.
Hallquist is the former CEO of Vermont Electric Cooperative. She says her priorities include rural economic development, moving toward single-payer healthcare, education, addressing climate change and promoting renewable energy.
She has a plan to work with electric utilities to string fiber optic internet cable to every home and business in the state.
Hallquist will likely face at least two opponents in the Democratic primary in August. Environmental advocate James Ehlers and middle-schooler Ethan Sonneborn have also entered the race for the Democratic nomination.
Update 7:50 a.m. This post was updated to include a video.
