Around New England

Transgender Democratic Candidate for Governor Not Liberal Enough

March 14, 2018

“When I think about who I am, I am the Democratic Party,” Christine Hallquist, a biological male who identifies as a woman, told Seven Days, a Vermont newspaper.

On many issues — government involvement in health care, legalizing marijuana, $15-an-hour minimum wage, and transgender rights, as examples — Hallquist touts the Democratic Party line in Vermont.

But Hallquist, chief executive of Vermont Electric Coop, is skeptical about raising taxes; was once asked by the current governor of Vermont, Phil Scott, a Republican, to consider joining his administration; and acknowledges voting for Scott in 2016.

That led the campaign manager for the more-left-wing candidate in the Democratic primary for governor, James Ehlers, to tell Seven Days that Hallquist is “not nearly progressive enough.”

If elected, Hallquist would be the first openly transgender governor in the United States.


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