By Guy Page

A Troy selectboard member and Democrat has thrown his hat into the ring of the Orleans County senate seat following the resignation of Sen. Sam Douglass.

According to the Newport Dispatch, U.S. Army veteran Gaston Bathalon announced Monday his Democratic candidacy for the Orleans District seat in the November 2026 election. Bathalon, a lifelong Vermonter from Troy and son of French-Canadian parents, is a 30-year Army veteran who rose to the rank of colonel. He commanded the U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine and deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. He was the first in his family to graduate college.

Bathalon currently serves on the Troy Select Board, Troy School Board, North Country Supervisory Union Board, and as Troy’s town health officer.

Douglass, a Republican, resigned Friday (effective Monday) following revelations that he participated in a private Young Republicans group chat. The resignation came under intense pressure from Republican leaders, including Governor Phil Scott and Senate Minority Leader Scott Beck.

“Hate has no place in our communities,” Bathalon said. “This campaign isn’t about party politics or headlines — it’s about service. I’m running to make sure every family in the Kingdom can keep living, learning, and thriving right here at home.”

Scott will appoint a replacement for Douglass from among several candidates proposed by the Orleans County GOP Committee. In a recent discussion on the committee’s Facebook page, Aimee Conrad Bellevance, a businessman who finished second to Douglass in the GOP primary, was recommended by some commenters. Rep. Mark Higley (R-Lowell) also has been suggested as a candidate.

Douglass, wife both fired after Politico story broke – Also, Douglass has published a Give Send Go page (similar to “GoFundMe”) seeking financial support for his family. On the page, Douglass describes how both he and his wife Brianna, parents to a newborn, were fired from their jobs after the Politico story leading to his resignation was published. 

Replacement named for Cordes in House – Gov. Phil Scott on Thursday,  October 16 announced the appointment of Karen Lueders of Lincoln to represent the Addison-4 district in the Vermont House of Representatives. 

Lueders succeeds former Rep. Mari Cordes, who resigned earlier this year and reportedly has moved to Canada. 

Lueders currently serves on the Board of Addison Housing Works and has previously held leadership roles with Addison County Home Health and Hospice and Habitat for Humanity, among other local nonprofits. Earlier this year, she joined a Lincoln Selectboard-appointed committee to study and recommend improvements to the town’s voting process and annual meeting structure.

A longtime resident of Lincoln, Lueders has been active in community life across the four towns of the Addison-4 district — Lincoln, Bristol, Starksboro, and Monkton — through her law practice, school volunteering, and involvement in the local arts community. For 17 years, she operated the WalkOver Gallery and Concert Room in Bristol alongside her law office, until the venue closed in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Lueders will serve the remainder of Cordes’s term in the Vermont House. She is the mother of Tim Lueders-Dumont, a former candidate for Addison County State’s Attorney and current executive director of the Vermont Department of State’s Attorneys and Sheriffs.