 Good evening. Good evening. Pause. Welcome to Young Professionals. My name is Alex Bunton. I'm the director of the Young Professionals program at the Lake of Glen Jamer. Our mission at BYP is pretty simple, to help young professionals find personal and professional resources that need to be successful and stay here in Vermont. Pretty simple, right? We're excited to have the four leading candidates for the upcoming Democratic primary here tonight. We really focus on issues affecting young professionals in the states. So thank you all for joining us. Thank you for having us. Thank you. I'd like to thank Time Media and TV for helping to stream this event. For the YVs across the state, we couldn't make the track here at Burlington. We did open this up to everyone in the state. I'd also like to thank our sponsors, Main Street Landing. We're providing one of the beverages. This program wouldn't be possible without broad community support. So if you're interested in getting involved or sponsoring an event, please do reach out. Without further ado, I would like to introduce our moderator for this evening's event. Mr. Ben Traverse here is an attorney for the YVs across the state. Without further ado, I would like to introduce our moderator for this evening's event. Mr. Ben Traverse here is an attorney for Downs Rackland Martin. He's also a recently elected Burlington City Council member. And I'll turn it over to you, sir. Thanks, Alex. And thanks everyone for being here today. It's a true honor to be able to moderate this forum and to be with four incredible candidates. There's a political sea change afoot, it seems, as the great resignation seemingly extends to the halls of Congress, as well as apparently our state has. For many, this is a moment for pause, because it means the loss of institutional knowledge and some seniority-based clout. But it's also, for many, a very exciting opportunity, as it presents an opportunity for a new generation of leaders to step up. And the generation of leaders represented by this table presents additional opportunities for Vermont to make history this year in sending its first woman to Congress. Candidates, yeah. Candidates, I'm sure you've had and will continue to have many opportunities to talk about the issues, because this is a young professional's forum. We're going to try to keep the questions based on young professionals. I asked Alex and the Burlington Young Professionals, what is a young professional? I was told it's 20-ish to 40-ish, so I still make the cut. But I should say the Burlington Young Professionals is also keen to point out that it has no barriers to participation in its programming, and it's open to all, regardless of employment status and regardless of what industry you're in, which I think is an important point to point out as Vermont is working to recruit and retain and attract young people from all walks of life, from all careers, here to Vermont. So just some brief logistics before we step into it. We'll begin with opening remarks for each of the candidates, which we'll ask you to keep to 90 seconds. Alex here, I printed out some papers for him with 30 seconds and zero to give you all a heads-up as to when it's coming. We'll then have some questions, and we'll ask the candidates if they could keep their answers to questions to 90 seconds as well. And again, Alex will be on the timer. Thank you, Alex. And if things stay on time here, which we will try to do and keep this to an hour, hopefully it will present us an opportunity to get through anywhere from five to seven questions. We'll begin opening remarks in alphabetical order, and then we randomize cycling through how we'll handle each question from there. So then, going in alphabetical order, we'll begin with Senator Becker-Ballon. Senator Ballon. Thank you so much, Ben. Thanks, everyone, for being out here tonight. So I am Senator Becker-Ballon. I am a senator from Wyndham County. I live in Brownboro with my wife and two kids. I have an 11-year-old and a 14-year-old, and I am the president pro-time of the Vermont Senate. What I really want you to know about me is I was a middle school teacher for a long time, and I always say if you can do middle school teaching, you can do just about anything, because it's a hellscape that we all survive one way or another. And I really became a middle school teacher because of my own experience at that age. It was some of the worst years of my life. Knowing at that time that I was gay and not feeling supported by my family or my community or my school, and I really set out to have a career in which I could make that classroom safe for other middle school students. And so those stories of those students and families are the stories that I've taken with me into my work in the legislature. And I was the first woman ever to hold the position of President Pro Tem, which is also, you know, this is really exciting and also kind of scary that it takes so long. I was the first openly gay person in the legislature in leadership. And I was elected unanimously by my colleagues in the Senate to serve them, not because we always agree on policy, but because they know that I'm a person of integrity, and I do the things that I say that I'm going to do, and I will act in good faith with anyone that is acting with me in good faith. And we've passed a lot of really important work together from some of the strongest reproductive rights in the country, minimum wage increases, paid sick leave, child care investments, climate action, the largest housing investments in Vermont's history. And I want to bring that experience and that grit and that determination and that compassion with me to D.C. and I would be tremendously honored to continue the work that I've done in the Vermont Senate in Washington, D.C. So I look forward to this conversation tonight. I think it's going to be an interesting one. Thank you. Thank you, Senator Ballant. Sinead Chase Clifford, thank you. Hi, my name is Sinead Chase Clifford and I guess I fall into the parameters of a young professional. I was born and raised in Vermont and like a lot of young people still felt like this wasn't a place where I was going to be able to build a life, whether that's because of the body I inhabit as a black woman or because of our economic opportunities or sometimes feeling like the lack thereof. So I really understand the challenges and those challenges also pushed me to want to live elsewhere, but because I know that we have the capacity to invest in our communities and build a Vermont where everyone can see themselves having a thriving life have come back and determined to build a life here with you all. And there was a piece in our prompt for the evening that talked about working through difference. And I talked to some very young people earlier today from Students to Man Action and one of the questions they asked me was how do we build through difference and I will leave on quotes my favorite thing to do in thinking about how we can build together through difference. So as Bell Hook says, we have the collective, we can collectively regain our faith in the transformative power of love by cultivating courage, having the strength to stand for what we believe in and to do all things with accountability both in word and deed. So I can't wait to have this conversation with you all. Thank you very much. Lieutenant Governor Molly Gray. Thanks, thanks, Councillor Travers. It's a pleasure to be here with you all this evening. My name is Molly Gray and please to serve as your 82nd Lieutenant Governor and to be running for Congress, I'm pleased to be here tonight to tell you why I believe I'm the right person with the right experience at the right time to serve as your congresswoman. I've spent nearly a half decade working in and with Congress first helping to elect Congress in Welch in 2006 and then moving at 22 to Washington D.C. and being there, opening the door to the office and getting to work building systems to meet the needs of Vermonters. I then went on to work for the International Committee of the Red Cross spending three and a half years working with congressional committees and staff and the House and the Senate trying to promote compliance with the Geneva Conventions or International Humanitarian Law and leading field missions into Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Haiti and the Western Balkans. I've also lived and worked across the state. I live now with my husband Mike here in Burlington, the south end grew up in Newbury on a vegetable and dairy farm and a proud product of our Vermont education system from Newbury Elementary School through Vermont Law School previously served as an assistant attorney general and now serve as your Lieutenant Governor where I've worked to get to every corner of the state and giving Vermonters a voice in Montpelier. And I'm running for Congress because I know the challenges we face now are housing and childcare and workforce development challenges won't be solved by Vermont alone. We're going to need thoughtful leadership ready to deliver for our state. So I look forward to being here tonight and running a positive issue-focused campaign that makes you proud and answering your questions and working for you every day as your Congresswoman. Senator Kesher von Hinsdale. Thank you, Ben. And first of all, I just want to compliment Main Street Landing on their bold color choices for tables. I have never really matched a table before, but it is a great color. And before I talk about myself, I just want to acknowledge, you know, you have power in this room and you brought other leaders out who are here to listen to you as well, Representative Taylor Small, who is a shero of mine and a great friend, our first openly transgender legislator in Vermont, as well as my colleague and former seatmate while we were serving Senator Tom Chittenden, who brought his daughter tonight. And so, you know, you have power when you use your voice and I hope you will continue to do that. And my story is not so different than yours. You know, I got my start in politics introducing Peter Welch, Bernie Sanders, and a rock star senator from Illinois named Barack Obama on stage at UVM as a sophomore. And as that event ended, Barack Obama said, you know what, Bernie, if you don't behave yourself, we're going to run Kesha for the Senate instead of you. It was the first time anyone encouraged me to run for office and two years later, we shared a ballot. He became the 44th president and I became one of the youngest legislators in the country. But it wasn't a particularly easy story. When I was running, people said, you're not a homeowner. So how are you going to represent fully the community? When I got to the legislator, a colleague said, oh, we're starting an insurance pool. And I said, great, I don't have healthcare. He said, no, I mean life insurance. Your voice truly matters when you use it. And I have fought for 10 years in the legislature to make sure that young people have a voice from the start of the great recession to the free fall of the economy in the pandemic. And I will continue to fight for you in Washington. Thank you. Thank you, Senator. So we'll move to our first question now. And Senator Ron Hinsdale, we'll start with you on this. Okay. So in Washington, DC, as in many young professional workplaces, seniority often rules. Relative to Congress, any one of you will be a young professional in DC. And I think among the new folks who are elected, they base seniority off of state population. So as one of the most junior members of Congress, can you speak to how you would start to build relationships and make an impact? Absolutely. I mean, so I started in the legislature at 22 with people telling me they have shoes older than me. And it really had to build my credibility. And the first thing I learned was from a legislator who started when he was 19, Mike Obahowski. And he said, listen, if you act like the youngest legislator and talk like the youngest legislator and set yourself apart as the youngest legislator, people are going to treat you like the youngest legislator. And you don't want that. You want to figure out what gets everybody up in the morning and keeps them up at night and build common ground from there. And in addition, there's a great possibility that the Democrats will be in the minority in Washington. I would, I will fight hard to make it not so. But when we get there, there's a chance that we won't hold the house. And one thing that I learned from a Republican colleague of mine, Patty Comline, who was the Republican minority leader who helped us pass marriage equality in 2009, is she said, listen, when you're in the majority, you steer the ship. When you're in the minority, you're still in the same boat and you have to point out the rocks. And so while I've been a fighter and a champion with a strong voice for making a difference and holding people accountable to the change we need as our rights disappear and as our democracy starts to vanish, I will still find any way I can to work with those in the majority to deliver for Vermonters, because you still have immigration concerns. You still need to be able to afford a home. You still need someone who will pick up the phone and take your call and make sure that you're getting what you need to start a business, grow a family and do what you need to do to thrive in Vermont. And that's who I will be for you. Thank you. Senator Ballant, how will you start to build relationships and make an impact? So I had to build relationships and build coalitions my entire life. When you grow up as a gay kid that is hated by a lot of people, you've got to figure out really early how to connect with people, even people who don't think that you have value in the world. And when I first started in the Senate, I had to serve alongside people who voted against my right to marry my spouse, voted against civil unions, voted against civil marriage, but I still had to work with them. I had to show up in committee every day. I had to find a way for us to continue to work together, even though I knew that when I needed them to stand up for me, they didn't do that. And that's who I'll be in Congress. We have to stop demonizing each other. We have to stop turning away from each other. And we know, I hear it from one end of the state to the other, that Congress is fundamentally broken and people are treating each other like deep enemies. And yes, we've got to stand in our values and we have to fight for policy that we know is best for the people back home, but we can do it in a way that sees the humanity underneath it. That is what we've lost. And I can tell you, we who have been in elected office here in Vermont have also seen that demonization. So it's already here. I know how to deal with it. I've been dealing with it and I believe strongly that we have to connect with each other as human beings. That's how you build coalitions. Thank you. Ms. Chase Clifford, we turn to you on this question. Certainly. I mean, as young professionals, we've all been that youngest person in the room. We've all had those first days on the job where the senior staff look at you and pay you no mind. But what do you do? You do phenomenal work. And I think that really is, we can push all of the age things aside and get it all the time about how old enough to even exist. And in particular, be doing something as audacious as running for Congress. But you show up and you do really good work. I think that's first and foremost what it is. And then you start to make waves. And I worked for a member of Congress who was only in her second term. And we did really great work. And we were able to introduce incredible legislation that had real impact on communities. And I think about members of Congress like Congresswoman Cori Bush, who slept on the House steps, who slept on the steps of the Capitol. Bringing that type of organizing activist energy is so necessary to shake up a seniority structure that is fundamentally broken. And I think we've seen very much so how it leads to inaction and more and more people telling us that we need to take step by step action in a world that we know cannot exist if we continue to take that step by step action. So doing really good work and bringing that real grassroots gravy, scrappy organizing activist energy, absolutely. Thank you. Lieutenant Governor Gray. It's probably no surprise or no secret that I wasn't Phil Scott's chosen Lieutenant Governor. And so I came into office really trying to build a relationship knowing that we were in a global pandemic knowing that there was 2.7 billion dollars going to need to be distributed across the state. And so I feel very proud to have built a relationship with our governor to have worked across the aisle, but also to have worked closely with the legislature in the building every day with Senator Ballant and Senator Ron Hinsdale working to preside over the Senate. But it really comes back to me to a lifetime of service working in Washington for Congress and Welch who works across the aisle. I came to the public service through the Welch School of Diplomacy when I was working for the International Committee of the Red Cross. It was at the height of the Iraq War. The U.S. those first reports were coming to light of torture at Guantanamo. I think many of you may remember that. I certainly do. And having to go up to Capitol Hill and to meet with Republicans who did not believe that we should be complying with the Geneva Conventions. So meeting with Senator McCain's office and Senator Kerry's office. Meeting with people who didn't want to listen and building coalitions in both chambers. And then serving as an assistant attorney general. Didn't show up to work and say, hey, I'm a Democrat, and are you a Republican? Can we work together showing up doing the work, listening, building coalitions? And for me, that's what it's all about. Getting back to what unites us and not divides us. Thank you. Our next question will stick with you, this is a question that could use more than 90 seconds. But in the time we have, you speak to what you see as the biggest obstacle to young people, young families, young professionals staying in and moving to Vermont. And how can Congress help lower that barrier? This issue, I ran for Lieutenant Governor as a first time candidate. I think a lot of people said, who are you? Where do you come from? And I ran because my mom was multiple sclerosis. She was diagnosed when I was in 1999, so ninth grade. And I remember the day that she came home and we were sitting around the dinner table and I will never forget it. But I was serving as an assistant attorney general and teaching law classes at night at the law school where I had over $100,000 of debt from just to be able to afford rent here in Burlington in an apartment that was barely weatherized. I think it's a common experience. And she got incredibly sick and she went into the hospital and we weren't sure she was going to come out. And first I used my vacation days but I had barely accrued and then my sick days and then my personal days. And I got to the point where I wasn't sure whether I was going to have to leave my job to care for my mom and then not be able to pay my student loans or my rent or to stay in my job and hope for the best. Luckily she got better. But for me in order to keep young people in Vermont we have to have affordable housing. We have to have the landing pad. We have to have access to childcare. We have to have access to paid family and medical leave so we can care for our parents and care for kids when we decide to have them. We have to address student loan debt and I know from working as your lieutenant governor that we simply do not have the budget. We don't have enough taxpayers. And so when I talk about the challenges we face those challenges and those are going to come from strong federal support and that is why I want to be your congresswoman. Senator Rom Hinsdale. Yeah I mean so when I travel the state what people say is we have 300 job openings and 3 housing listings available and we have nothing that we could do about it in Berry in Bennington in Barton anywhere in the state. Housing is something I worked on from the day I started in the legislature as a renter to buying my first home to now being in the senate and being the author of the Landmark Housing Bill that passed this year as 226. I have never given up on all stages of ensuring people have access to housing from ending homelessness to renters rights to first time home buyers I authored the first time home buyer tax credit almost 10 years ago and it was a pilot I said let's get our foot in the door and we paid for 75 homeowners to get their first home that we looked back and said that was people average income of 60,000 average age of 31 this is a great program and it's working so we the Republicans actually picked up the mantle and started to expand the program and now it served thousands of Vermonters and this year to build on that I worked with our housing agencies and said you know let's look at first-generation home buyers because a tax credit isn't going to cut it for them $5,000 isn't going to make a difference so we created a grant program so that people who've never had generational wealth in their family can access first-time homeownership in the state that's the kind of difference I've made in Vermont and in fact President Biden just released a housing supply plan that looks a lot like the bill I authored here in Vermont this year Thank you Senator Malin. Like Senator Rom Hinsola said like the governor said we're going to need a lot of supports at the federal level for working families so as we mentioned here paid family medical leave, health care student loan reduction, cancellation but the issue I hear the most about right now throughout Vermont is the housing crisis and I know you feel it acutely here in Chittenden County but it's really true throughout the state and you know when I was a teacher in rural schools in Wynnum County I saw directly how having poor housing impacted a student's ability to learn it impacted their health and well-being their emotional health and it did not set them up for success and so yes it's true that here in Chittenden County you need more housing but every corner of the state does housing is also at the center of all of the challenges that we face here we know that you can't get Vermonters stabilized if they have health concerns or mental health concerns if they don't have stable housing we know that businesses and organizations can't attract or retain workers if we don't have housing so it really touches on every impact of the economy and the health of our community so that will be one of my top priorities as well as really investing heavily at the federal level in mental health supports across the country we are seeing a crisis in our schools here in Vermont lots of students dysregulated and I want to be a champion for that in Congress so thank you thank you Ms. Chase Clifford I knew going last when this question was going to be tough because guess what I'm going to say housing housing is at the intersection of all of our policy decisions and that's why codifying housing as a series of rights would be my most important priority one in four voucher eligible families don't receive the federal assistance that they deserve so we need to fully fund the housing choice vouchers program we need to also make sure we are investing in housing first programming so folks are able to stabilize our lives with safe dignified affordable housing the dignity piece is important and making sure that we're holding landlords accountable we talk about the important weatherization and important climate resiliency projects that need to happen in our affordable housing units but if you can't get a landlord to fix your lights how is a landlord going to plug in an electric car charger so we really need to make sure that we are holding landlords accountable and also investing in our affordable housing stock so that folks don't get evicted because of climate resiliency projects and folks get to live in dignified homes certainly as we as we think about attracting more more young people to our state has to be about more than just in the county as has been mentioned and working with our more rural communities too about how they can build thriving communities and still keep all of the Vermont charm of course but thinking about zoning and you know sometimes at a you know at a federal level we pass the buck on zoning but there are certainly things we can do at a congressional level to incentivize zoning structures and that we are incentivizing with infrastructure funding plus-ups for communities that make changes humane changes to zoning that incentivize sustainable pro-human zoning. Thank you. You'll get this question first now Ms. Jayce Clifford. I see the pattern. So many young people feel as if they are of a generation born into crisis climate change global pandemic any number of wars political extremism and just this past weekend yet more mass shootings born in hate. For many young people again it is hard to find hope and my question for you is where are you finding hope these days? This is a tougher question to go first on and particularly you know invoking the mass murder that happened in Buffalo and thinking about constantly I think about this every try to keep my emotions in check here I will try to because I got 90 seconds off those numbers pretty soon. It is really hard to feel safe I think as anybody particularly as a black woman I think about my safety a lot but I have hope in you all in the conversations that we have together I have hope talking to even younger people that like I did at my high school today because they are so engaged and you all are so sharp and know exactly what our communities need and are digging in the amount of you I talked to just briefly who showed up here because you really care about the selection and you really care about what your representation is about and the issues we talk about and you want to hear policy you don't want to just hear reiterations of resumes you want to hear what people actually want to do and you want to hear about change so I am very excited to be in this type of room and to see positive moments come out of primaries across our nation folks disrupting politics as usual folks who are going to demand change and truly try to make our communities as safe as possible with love and leaning in with compassion and care. Thank you. Lieutenant Governor Gray. It's a tough question and I think I suspect everyone at the stage here tonight gets this question all the time and I'll be at a gathering and people say why would you want to go to Washington? Like why? We don't even understand and I've reflected on that a lot because I feel like well how can we not go in this moment where our democracy just feels like it's hanging by a thread and think about Trump being in office going into a global pandemic a war in Ukraine a climate crisis that we're feeling every single day the shootings over the weekend which are just you know it's terrorism, it's domestic terrorism and we're seeing that now but what gives me hope every day and to echo what Shanae was saying it's the conversations with Vermonters it is getting out and listening and really hearing what it is that people are most concerned with and what it is that unites us right now is it this beautiful sunset that's now blinding all of you is it our land is it the environment, is it music is it good food is it love and family and I strongly believe that if we can get back to the basics and talk to each other and engage that we can figure out a path forward I strongly believe that that's what gives me hope Thank you, Senator Ron Hinsale Thanks Ben, I'm trying to figure out your algorithm in my head but We'll break from it with the next one So I've been thinking a lot about this question actually because my grandfather passed away this weekend and my grandfather lived an incredible life 95 year old World War II veteran he had a purple heart he served in the Pacific theater and he was a 17 year old who enlisted because he was Jewish and he wanted to make a difference in making sure the country remained one of democracy and not falling into fascism and I'm sure there were people who had survived the Civil War who looked at him at that time and thought I have no hope left, I can't believe you can have hope when we're going into our second World War I know that generationally for me it's not about looking at younger people and thinking you give me hope but looking at younger people and thinking you give me courage I need to have the courage to blaze a trail and flank you as you make a difference because I'm telling you some of us are millennials right we were really happy with ping-pong tables and snacks and like a mini fridge in the office and thought we have it made and Gen Z is coming along and they're like absolutely not equal pay, racial justice we're demanding income and equality right now and so this is just a moment where every generation has to discover freedom for themselves and make sure that they fight for it and I think we're just at a very poignant moment to remember what we're fighting for and what's at stake which is our democracy access to abortion and the very fundamental civil liberties that we have thought were secured and we can't do it again Thank you Senator Ballant I'm so glad you asked this question because when I've taken to doing I go to a lot of political events right now you sort of run through the usual conversations and I've taken to asking a similar question which is what brings you joy and just last night I was asking a woman what brings you joy and she said well nothing that was rough and then I asked somebody else I said you seem to spawned it and she said I'm not to spawned it I'm hopeless I appreciate the nuance there so much brings me joy the natural world brings me joy every single day the stillness the quiet the smell the green seeing other people out on the trails in the clean air that brings me joy my kids give me hope my kids 11 and 14 they are so far ahead of all of us they're so far ahead on so many things on gender issues on politics on so many things and every time I have a conversation with them I feel like okay we are really heading in a good place and the other thing that brings me great joy is whenever we stop and truly see each other have a moment with each other at the store at the post office putting a coin in a meter for somebody else those little tiny moments bring me so much joy thank you I am figuring out here as we go along if you went last then you go first so our next question is each one of you as young people chose to be civically engaged and for anyone here who is similarly interested in becoming more involved in their communities or as you talk to young people around the state what advice do you offer we start with you senator ballin I always start with you have to know who you are you have to know who you fundamentally are inside of you there are non-policy issues necessarily but who will you be when you are tested in your community or at the state level how will you show up in that moment because in moments of crisis you better be clear on who you are because you have to make the decisions from that place because there are going to be times when you are out in front and people are not going to be coming up behind you you have to know that you've done it from the right place and I can tell you in my job as majority leader and as president pro tem there have been times when I've had to stand up to the governor sometimes even a governor of my own party and you have to know who you are in those moments and so know that you have something to offer and it all has to flow from that clear true sense of your inner self thank you senator I'll move to Ms. Chase Clifford on this question my advice is to go as big as as you want people I'm sure tell you because they tell me all the time to wait your turn you're going too big you should have did this instead all of these other things my advice is do not listen to that bad advice you are more capable than you know reverse you are as capable as you know you are a lot of people are like oh you're more capable than you know I know I'm capable and that's why I'm doing this and so own that own that I have so many friends of our age that I'm not going to go for that I feel like I don't have the experience for it and talk themselves out of opportunities that they would be amazing for so just do it just go for it those chances make those leaps and it will always end up in a place that feels right and when you follow your spirit you hardly ever get to a place that you didn't want to be so just go for the big things do the big hard things and you'll be happier for it time to go in a grid it's funny you know often times people will talk about advice and I try not to give it because I feel like I think we want to encourage people to kind of get to their own conclusions and give ideas and thoughts but the best mentorship in my mind is friendship and having having relationships and really trying to just be there when the next generation and I feel like we're all the same generation I'm looking out at this big audience and I'm like am I young? Old? I don't know I'm 38 sometimes it's too old and sometimes it doesn't feel like it's old enough but I was sworn in the day after the election and Senator Ballant was there as well and I think you were sworn in the day before I was sworn in the day of the insurrection but for me really having to stop and all of the priorities that I had around our generation and trying to figure out how to use the platform of Lieutenant Governor to help we're kind of thrown to the side for a moment and it was like what can we do to help young people feel connected to government so I started this thing called Lieutenant Governor for a day and every Wednesday bringing a different classroom into the State House virtually so hundreds of kids zooming in over the last two years and they ask all sorts of questions but the question I always ask is what do we what can we do to get you to stay here in Vermont and that for me is the biggest challenge and really trying to figure out how to make that possible so I guess I don't give advice but I feel like my job is to invite all of us to be part of and to feel connected to government in a time when we really need it to deliver for us so I did just give the NDU Linden graduation speech this weekend and aside from saying you should get 8 hours of sleep or just figure out how your body will not sabotage you as you try to lead into your work you know there were a lot of lessons in terms of the why and the how truly to remember the why because a lot of people will try to knock you off your block and or entice you with opportunities and say you just have to give up a little bit of your values you just have to compromise a little more you just have to be a little smaller and fit into this box and you have to remember why you wanted to do this in the first place and the how I think is really critical it has to be together you really do have to reach out to one another in order to grow together I often use the metaphor of the sequoia tree the sequoias are the largest living things on earth and when one falls over after millennia you see that their roots are very shallow because they can't grow alone they have to reach out and intertwine with each other to grow that tall and that large and I think that's one of the most beautiful metaphors on earth and finally I'm totally going to embarrass Ellie because I met Ellie at an Irish pub in Washington DC with a bunch of other women legislators and she was thinking about I might move back to Vermont and run for office and we were all sitting there being our normal selves because we are not that different than you we are flawed human beings who go out to an Irish pub and drink and talk about people's political futures and Ellie had the bravery to say I'm thinking about coming back to Vermont and running for office and we all said of course you are and of course you need to and you all need to vote for Ellie very soon thank you and as I mentioned before now you'll go first oh right I keep forgetting this so this is sort of a follow up to the question we just asked but those attending this forum and tuning in and many young people who I'm sure you meet with on the campaign trail are future leaders in their communities and their workplaces and professional fields each one of you has taken different paths to leadership and leads and find strength in leadership in different ways and so successful leadership is defined differently by different people and found differently in different people and I'm just curious to hear from you how do you define a successful leadership I mean I think I'm someone who's always struggled with both the word success and leadership so I'll start there because you know I've often thought let me figure out a problem that needs solving and figure out who needs to be at the table and how we stay focused on the work at the center and get our egos and our factions out of the way to do that and you know I'll say it took me 16 years to pass a bill that I really hope the governor will sign this week and put it into politics thinking about environmental justice and who's left behind as our climate changes and as some people live in houses or communities that are killing them namely for me when I think of that I think of our mobile home communities you know when Tropical Store Irene hit 8% of the population lived in mobile homes but they were 40% of those affected by the flooding and so I've said about for over a decade to write an environmental justice bill and that was new language for Vermont and a few states that doesn't have an environmental justice policy on the books and so people thought this is a solution in search of a problem and so I had to build a coalition over the course of longer than a decade with migrant farm workers indigenous communities, mobile home park residents you know people who lived off the grid people who don't speak English to talk to fellow Vermonters about what it meant to have an environmental justice bill and ensure that we were meeting people and power. That bill passed 16 years later with a bipartisan vote in the House and the Senate this year I had a hard time explaining to the pages who are 13 years old that it took me longer to pass a bill than they've been alive but that is the work that is what successful leadership is, is keeping out a problem and not letting go until it is solved Thank you. Senator Ballant how do you define successful leadership? So leadership happens every day in small moments of interaction they don't just happen when you are a senator or the majority leader or the president or attend. It happens in how you conduct yourself day in and day out trust is built in tiny little moments and if you want to get work done collectively there has to be shared trust and so I always start with the building blocks of that which is how we treat each other moment to moment and it's a quick story when I first started in the legislature my very first committee it was the first few weeks and a woman came in to testify on something really intense for her personally she sat down to give her testimony and I realized I looked around the room that nobody was listening to her not because they didn't care but because somebody was on their computer somebody was on their phone and she was making eye contact and in that moment I thought my role right now actually is to just engage with this woman catch her eye have her know that I am listening and afterwards to follow her out of the room and say to her that was so important that you came here to tell us that story because without you here we would have an incomplete version of the work that we have to do so that is for me the essence of good leadership and it starts in those moments of respect Ms. Chase Clifford I think successful leadership in in this specific context is to lead yourself out of a job you know when we talk to organizers and activists you want to organize yourself out of a job because you want to empower folks re-empower because folks are inherently empowered they've just been told that you don't have power you want to re-empower folks so that they can organize and that they can lead themselves and I think we have unfortunately we have a lot of folks who like this idea of leadership so much they're hell bent on keeping it forever and it's I think a metric of success is those around you that you have built up and poured into that are better at the job than you are that are more engaged and more organized and more ready to go than you are and really being able to lift while you climb I think too much of our political structure is I'll go I'll go to the mountain and I'll come back and let you know how it goes and then I'll listen to you and then I'll go back up we truly need to lift while we climb so we all get there together so that is certainly how I success all leadership Thank you Lieutenant Governor Gray I think you can tell a lot actually about how someone campaigns by how they'll lead and when I decided to run for Lieutenant Governor we made a commitment I did as a candidate and as a team to run a positive issue focus campaign come what may and a lot came and we just stayed focused on that and as Lieutenant Governor I wanted to keep that every single day and certainly now in this campaign running for Congress I think that we rise by giving Vermonters and giving all of you are very best right you are our employers and tonight I'm asking you to hire me right and so I'm going to I'm going to make my best case to you and I'm going to do that every single day until June 24th when you can start voting until August 9th and through the general but if I'm elected your congresswoman I'll do what my brother has always told me to which is listen twice speak once be kind and whoever is not at the table find them and get them to the table I think that's the leadership we really need in Vermont and this country right now so I think we may have time for one more sort of lightning round it's not like a yes or no lightning round lightning round I love the lightning round keep our answers less than 90 seconds then we can do that and then we can wrap up and we can keep it to the hour an inventive structure so we'll start with you Lieutenant Governor Gray but this question is prompted by Senator Rom Hinsdale's advice to get 8 hours of sleep and regardless of what you're doing whether you're running for a congress or in your workplace or raising a family self-care is important and so my question for you Lieutenant Governor Gray is in running for congress whether it be 8 hours of sleep or elsewhere what are you doing for fun where are you finding self-care these days trying to run actually went for a run squeezed in a run before coming here my legs were actually really sore we did some hills trying to run, trying to sleep well trying to just remember every day that it's such an honor to run for office and we're going to send a woman to Washington that's pretty exciting and just this is fun this is hard work and it's got to be hard work because we're asking you to vote for us but really trying to also enjoy the ride because it's pretty special to show up and to hear from Vermonters every single day and we live in a pretty special place and there's a lot happening across our state that we should be proud of so I'm glad to call Vermont home I'm so glad to be your Lieutenant Governor and it is a deep honor to be running for Congress Senator Ron Hinsdale well I already told you that the most fun I have is eight hours of sleep no I think one of the greatest joys of running for office is the intergenerational conversation is just sometimes you're in college or you're around young people in Burlington and you don't get to see kids running around and you don't get to talk to women in their 70s who are just really pissed off that they have to fight for abortion again and you realize that there's true magic when we come together across different life horizons and we're able to have these conversations and just hear stories and think a lot about who came before you and the legacy they left and that they're pouring their investment into you to carry that forward and at some point we become the bow and you know the arrow has to fly farther and so we talk to younger people and we see them again and you know we hear that we inspired them to sleep eight hours a day or wear sunscreen or run for office and that's just a tremendous joy I think you can tell we all love running and you know I think it's because we get that energy from all of you especially coming out of a pandemic like you know we were on zoom trying to legislate for two years or more and you know the oxytocin that you get just being in a room full of people and feeling that human capacity and what's possible will break through any issue we're having any fight we're fighting in Washington is just to spend time together tell stories and remember why life is worth living in the first place Well one of the things that I'm so happy to finally get to do again is get my motorcycle out on the roads because it has been a longer winter than I wanted I took the bike out last week and worked on the chrome and that was super fun and I spent a lot of time laughing with friends that's my go-to when I'm feeling low and camping is exciting it's a wonderful opportunity to meet for monitors it's also really draining and you have to build yourself back up so I also run in the woods with my dog I do meditating Pema Children is my go-to on that and I'm a writer and I have a book coming out in June that I'm very excited about and that has been an incredible project for me to have during the craziness of the session to come back to working on that and it's a collection of ten years of op-eds that I wrote for newspaper in southern Vermont and going through that process with my friends and editors has been an incredible healing process for me and watching my growth not just as a legislator but also as a human Thank you Ms. Chase Clifford you'll have to indulge me for a deep cut reference for my husband and family who are now watching but going out to eat it doesn't make sense to you two at all now but those who know know but there's a truth in that is I have a really fun family and a really fun husband and just hanging out and watching Jeopardy together and breaking bread and trying new restaurants and Essex and just grabbing a beer is really, really lovely I'll put the lightning back and the lightning round and be done That's great Alright, so I think that pretty much brings us to an opportunity for you all to wrap up now I guess for this purpose we'll now go and reverse alphabetical order so Senator Ruhm-Hinsel if we could start with you thank you so much for being here if you could wrap up for the group, that'd be great How much time then? 90 seconds we have 6 minutes until 8 o'clock You know I look around the room and I know people have grown up here some people just moved here from Platsburg trying to figure out how to get out of their high rent situation and buy their first home and no matter what happens in this race I think I can speak for all of us we will all be here for you I know that so much of my success and anything good that's happened for me has been being able to have a conversation with somebody else who's somewhere else on the path and just make sure that we can stay connected and that if I need something I can offer it to me and if they need something I can offer it to them that is the Vermont way we don't measure success by how many cars you have but by how many cars you have pulled out of a ditch and I think that's what makes our state incredibly special that's the spirit that I want to bring to Washington and I hope you hold on to that and you don't leave this state because it is a really special place recruit more young people to be here and just call on us when you need help and we'll be here for you Councillor Travers thank you again thank you all for coming out tonight it's wonderful to see so many faces to actually see your eyes and your smiles and be together here for what is a really exciting moment all of us not just us here up on the stage but all of us in this room and across the state we get to write this next chapter together so this is just the first conversation we're going to have tonight but we're going to have several more over the coming weeks in the coming months and hopefully over the coming years I know all of us here and many of you in the audience we all may be serving together in the future we may be working in communities together in the future so I know and I strongly believe I'm the right person at this moment to serve Vermont as Vermont's Congresswoman because of my background, because of my experience because of where we're at as a country I'm also battle tested I went through a really tough primary when I ran for Lieutenant Governor Republicans nationally through $300,000 into Vermont we were outspent three to one and we know Republicans are looking at this state and thinking can we also pick up Vermont not only the Senate but also the House so we have to today leaving today sign up to get your absentee ballot or prepare to go to the polls as soon as early voting starts get involved, get organized we want you on our team but more than anything, continue the conversation about this race because it's an incredibly important one not only for Vermont but for our nation thank you for coming out truly in social work fashion I will end with a note about love as I hope I started with you know when we talk about love and policy they seem to be completely in different different arenas they seem to be one another and for too long they have been which is why we've experienced decades and for some centuries of policy neglect and policy violence because we have put love in this completely separate conversation of economics and money and budgets but truly it's the basic dimensions of love care compassion honesty, accountability, mutual trust and understanding that are foundational to our democracy and our collective communities and does anyone ever know that if you've tried to live in partnership with another human love is really hard it requires that we center each other's humanity even when we are deeply hurt it requires that we are honest even when there are far easier alternatives and it requires that we center care and compassion and hold space for those things as well as accountability and I really do believe that together we can embody that type of vision of love in our communities and certainly I'm a candidate who is fiercely focused on policy and fiercely focused on how we can deliver for working families and that certainly requires love and I hope that you can feel that love with me thank you senator ballot I think I want to start by saying I never thought that I would be here in this position I never thought that I would be president pro tem of the senate I never thought that I'd be in senate leadership as majority leader I was the first gay openly gay person to serve gay woman to serve in the senate it was pretty lonely to find my way and before I was a legislator I was a baker I was a prep cook I was a teacher I was a cocktail waitress I took all of these twists and turns in my career until I finally got to do the thing that I wanted to do which was to serve my community and to serve my state and I say this because you're sitting out there and you're trying to figure out your path and I tell you you can do a great many things and all of the things that you do in your life are going to contribute to getting you to that place that you want to be and if you're not surrounded by people that tell you that you can do those things I'm going to tell you to start surrounding yourself with people who believe in you who absolutely believe in you because that is the only reason why I am able to be on this stage today is because I had a wife who said to me you're not doing the thing you always wanted to do so get out there and do it thank you and thank you all I want to take an opportunity again to thank Alex Plunton and Berlins and Young Professionals Austin Davis and the Lake Champlain Chamber no doubt after the primary we'll have one of you back before the general election all ballots are mailed when or you can start early voting when June 24th and the primary is August 9th and thank you to Town Meeting TV thank you as well to the sponsors of this event Main Street Landing and Aquavity Kombucha thank you all for being here this evening and of course thank you to the candidates thank you for your openness on some of these questions I really appreciate it and on behalf of a grateful state thank you for running thank you for stepping up and good luck and best wishes in the coming weeks and months thank you