by Gerald Malloy
I announced in December that I am running for United States Senate and I would like to share some observations and thoughts. BLUF, it is an exciting time to be a Republican!
Just in the past weeks I have been to events in Burlington, Colchester, Manchester, Barre, Essex, Castleton, and WRJ, and before that to events in DC, Maryland, Wisconsin, Florida, Georgia, and New Hampshire. The Republican Party, here in Vermont and across the country, is on a path to a very successful 2024. That path started right after the 2022 elections; we’ve learned, we are unified, and we are focused. The VTGOP and 14 County Chairs have been building steam and growing everyday, developing quality candidates, with great initiatives on our platform.
So we are moving in the right direction, but we absolutely cannot let up. Vermont and Vermonters, literally, cannot afford another two years of the Democrat/Progressive supermajority. America and Americans, literally, cannot afford the $34T debt at $2B/day in interest alone. We have 9 months until the General Election and in my speaking engagements I have been asking folks to do something every single day to promote the Republican Party – we believe in the Constitution, we offer common sense solutions, and we represent all. We will deliver safety back to our communities, jobs and a strong economy, and foreign policy that promotes peace – things all Americans want and are not getting.
Right now I do not know who I am running against. It does not matter. The likely candidates have this in common – career politician, without relative business/military/foreign policy/government agency experience, that has been instrumental in leading to the current state of the Union and Vermont: crime, drug and homeless crises; danger-zone debt; a Vermont economy that fuels its alarming demographics trend; and talk without action. No likely opponent will deliver safety, jobs and economic future for Vermont, peace, and access. I will. And I will be civil and open-minded; I will listen and act.
In terms of learning from 2022, one of the challenges we face is overcoming the false messaging of the Democrat Party, such as how the Supreme Court banned abortion (it did not; States and people decide). The main issues to most Vermonters are the drug/crime/homeless crises that are completely ignored (or actually even supported), and the supermajority making Vermont unaffordable with the “Affordable” Heat Act, the Payroll/Child Care Tax, failure to reform Act 250, and a proposed 18.5% tax hike. People and businesses are leaving Vermont; mortgage rates and heating costs have more doubled since January 2021.
I did want to share some observations and thoughts about ‘existential climate crisis’. I recognize that Vermonters, including myself, are deeply concerned with the climate and environment. I visited schools and engaged young people that would ask me ‘what are you going to do about the existential climate crisis?’. I would explain that I do not believe we are in an existential climate crisis, and discuss doing one’s own research and drawing one’s own conclusions. I would discuss being in support of innovation and developing wind, solar, and electric capabilities that are reliable and affordable, and supporting the United States developing the resources/excavation/processing capabilities in an open market, without trillions of tax dollar subsidy, and not relying on and supporting communist China. To be frank, it is disturbing to see young people worried about their existence due to a climate narrative, but I want to take that interest and concern and turn it into a positive. As someone that has been successful growing jobs and business in competitive industry environments for many years, I know I can produce results in bringing business and jobs to Vermont as part of a Tech Hub for future energy solutions as well as semiconductor chips development – that’s a bright future for Vermont.
I was introduced recently as someone that loves Vermont. I do, and I am running because the future for Vermont does not look good. We need common sense change, we need elected representatives that can and will implement common sense change, and, as I talk about, take the harder right over the easier wrong, something career politicians don’t do. As President Coolidge noted, there is an indomitable spirit of liberty in Vermont. The Republican Party in Vermont has that spirit of liberty. Jump on board for Vermont’s future.