Molly Gray Credit: Courtesy

Assistant attorney general Molly Gray has announced her bid to become lieutenant governor of Vermont.

Gray, a political novice who works in the AG’s criminal division, had been planning a run for several weeks and declared her candidacy in a press release Monday. She said she’s seeking the state’s No. 2 office because she believes Vermont is at a “crossroads.” 

“Our rural communities and workforce are shrinking and the next generation
is struggling to live in Vermont,” wrote Gray, who was born and raised on a farm in Newbury. “There is a generation plagued by student loan debt that not only struggles to afford housing, keep healthy food on the table and start a family, but also care for aging parents.”

Gray, who is running as a Democrat, graduated from the University of Vermont in 2006 and worked for Rep. Peter Welch’s (D-Vt.) congressional campaign that year. She then served as a Welch aide in Washington, D.C., before returning to the Green Mountain State to attend Vermont Law School. 

Over the last decade, she has worked on several human rights initiatives, including monitoring missions in East Africa, Nigeria and Iraq, according to her campaign website.

If elected, Gray said, she would focus on reinvigorating Vermont’s rural communities, protecting the state’s land and environment, and making it the “best place to raise and support a family.”

“Now is the time for the next generation of bold leaders in Vermont,” she wrote.

Gray’s campaign announcement shared endorsements from former Democratic National Committee finance chair Jane Stetson, Chittenden County State’s Attorney Sarah George and former governor Madeleine Kunin.

Gray joins a healthy list of candidates hoping to succeed Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman, who has announced he is running for governor. Others seeking the Democratic nomination include political activist Brenda Siegel, Senate President Pro Tempore Tim Ashe and Sen. Debbie Ingram (D-Chittenden).

Meg Hansen, a Republican who has led Vermonters for Health Care Freedom, has also said she plans to run for the office. 

Disclosure: Tim Ashe is the domestic partner of Seven Days publisher and coeditor Paula Routly. Find our conflict-of-interest policy here: sevendaysvt.com/disclosure.

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Colin Flanders is a staff writer at Seven Days, covering health care, cops and courts. He has won three first-place awards from the Association of Alternative Newsmedia, including Best News Story for “Vermont’s Relapse,” a portrait of the state’s...

11 replies on “Molly Gray Announces Bid to Become Lieutenant Governor of Vermont”

  2. Gonna need to see a platform asap…being young and new and seemingly smart is a great start…but what specific ideas does she have for moving the state forward? Nothing in this article or on website says anything…all platitudes and I cannot stand more platitudes!!!

  3. Running as a Democrat and having been indoctrinated on Welch’s staff are two strikes right off the bat, so to speak.

  6. I fear she’s just as tax-y and spend-y as Ashe, Siegel, and Ingram. Ask her how exactly she’ll reduce the tax burden on Vermonters? What existing government expenditures or programs will she reduce or eliminate? How exactly will she reduce the cost of living in Vermont? Does she support the Transportation Climate Initiative (TCI) bill, which is just pretty-talk for substantially raising the gasoline tax on working class Vermonters who have to drive to work? Does she support forcing the owners of struggling general stores in rural Vermont to pay their employees $15/hour and to provide *paid family leave*? How will she attract entrepreneurs, businesses, employment-creators, and young people to Vermont who will work, create jobs, and pay taxes? What will she do to jumpstart the supply of desperately-needed housing in Vermont and thereby reduce its cost to young people?

  9. Methinks Molly sees the Light Guv post as her stepping stone to the Guvs throne, like The Ponytail and a host of others who occupied that completely meaningless post.

  10. “Methinks Molly sees the Light Guv post as her stepping stone to the Guvs throne, like The Ponytail and a host of others who occupied that completely meaningless post.” Like the incumbent governor, for example?

  11. “Political novice” accurately describes someone with little or no experience in elected office, so where’s the bias in it, Forestgimp?

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