I’m almost 100% certain that this is the plot to a horrible 90s straight-to-video family comedy called something like Mayor of Cool or Party Mayor, but, thanks to a technicality allowing it, a 14-year-old is running for governor of Vermont.
Unlike every other state in the US, Vermont and Kansas don’t have age limits on who can enter the gubernatorial (real word) race, meaning that certified teen Ethan Sonneborn from the tiny town of Bristol, Vermont can run for governor a Democrat in the similarly tiny state. Unlike the vast majority of US states, Vermont’s only requirement is that candidates have lived in the state for at least four years – Sonneborn has lived there for all 14 years of his life, and he managed to get enough signatures to go on the ballot.
According to AP, governor Phil Scott, who is running for re-election, has commented on Sonneborn by saying he thinks that you “should at least be able to get your driver’s license at the time that you become governor“. (He would be the bad guy in Party Mayor, if Party Mayor was real.)
It’s hard to tell just how good he’d be as a governor, but he wears a suit and talks well, which I think is about 95% of being a politician:
.@RealESonneborn’s closing remarks ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/23IyEAm6jN
— Vermont Democrats (@vtdems) August 2, 2018
His policy platform is strongly in favour of LGBTQI rights; universal healthcare; increased minimum wage and better protections for workers; instituting a carbon tax; and bringing Vermont in line with the Paris Accord.
According to Time, Sonneborn has managed to raise around $2,300 AUD, which is only a fraction of what other candidates would have managed to get their hands on for things like staff and campaigning. Sonneborn will have to beat out three other candidates in the Democratic primary before the election in November.
Obviously, the instinct is to make fun of this dude because he’s 14 and it would be somewhat ridiculous for a 14-year-old to be governor, but Fraser Anning is a 68-year-old senator and he just either inadvertently or on purpose referenced a ‘final solution’ while doing a pretty racist speech.
Hell yeah, little dude. The primary is tomorrow.
