A New Generation is Here
An arresting photo came through my inbox the other day from the campaign of Molly Gray, a candidate for Lt. Governor of Vermont.
It pictured Gray along with three other women, standing superhero style next to the Vermont Supreme Court.
This is new.
Conflict of Interest alert - I support Gray and have given $100 to her campaign.
The photo was part of a press conference Gray held in Montpelier to discuss diverting funds from the corrections department to child care providers.
Flanking her were a child care provider, a Vermont Legal Aid lawyer and Sarah George, the crusading prosecutor from Burlington who is the leading voice in Vermont on the reform of a racist criminal justice system.
But it wasn’t the text of the press release that was different. It was the photo. I had never seen a photo with only female political leaders in VT. And the way they leaned into it. Masks on, you could feel their message.
“We are taking over. We are not waiting any longer.’’
Vermont’s congressional delegation is filled with talent. But it is old, male and white. Congressman Peter Welch and Senators Patrick Leahy and Bernie Sanders are well into heir 70s. They are products of anther era. They have done incredible work for Vermonters for decades. Community Health Centers, land conservation and untold other benefits would not exist if not for their work. They understand the importance of government and the threat the country faces with the vice that now inhabits that government.
But Gray and George are saying it is time for change. They are a new generation, with a modern perspective learned in a world completely different from the men who now serve.
Indeed, the race for Lt. Governor of Vermont features several women, each talented and ready to lead.
Former Governor Peter Shumlin said it well when he endorsed Gray last week.
“Molly is the most exciting candidate to surface on the Vermont landscape in a long time. She represents a generation of new leaders we need now more than ever.’’
Gray is raising plenty of money, has earned endorsements from former Gov. Madeleine Kunin and a host of others and is up on social media with high quality message advertising. Indeed, she is partially the result of the trailblazing Kunin, who sacrificed so much to become the first female governor of Vermont and now is the mentor of this next generation. (She gets very little credit as I have said many times.)
Gray is a farmer’s daughter from Newbury, Vermont, a lawyer with international policy and human rights experience. She gets the moment - that Vermont is facing an emergency of lost population and decay. And she understands the crisis that is the lack of high speed internet connection in our most rural areas.
But what is striking about Gray is not the policy positions. It is the possibility of a new generation of leadership at the highest levels as our congressional delegation and state legislature transform to reflect the people they represent.
A new generation is coming. We have left them a heavy load to carry.
