State Rep. Charlie Kimbell, D-Woodstock, is hoping to become Vermont’s next lieutenant governor.
The third-term legislator announced his candidacy for the open position Monday, becoming the first candidate to formally enter the race.
The incumbent, Democratic Lt. Gov. Molly Gray, is leaving the job to run for a U.S. House seat soon to be vacated by Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt. He, in turn, is running for the U.S. Senate seat opening up due to the retirement of U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.
In an interview with VTDigger, Kimbell said he hopes to continue the work he’s done as a state legislator since 2017, but on a larger scale.
“The lieutenant governor, I think, is uniquely positioned to try to be a convener of different people around an issue that maybe falls through the cracks and that there isn’t any one agency or any one committee in the legislature that deals with it well,” he said, citing workforce development and rural issues.
A graduate of Woodstock Union High School and the University of Vermont, Kimbell has spent much of his career as an entrepreneur and banker. A moderate Democrat in the Legislature, he is the vice chair of the House Commerce and Economic Development Committee and co-chair of the Rural Economic Development Working Group.
In November 2020, after then-House Speaker Mitzi Johnson, D-South Hero, lost reelection, Kimbell joined the race to succeed her. He ultimately dropped out and endorsed then-Majority Leader Jill Krowinski, D-Burlington, who won the speakership.
Kimbell said he’s been involved in student, local and state government throughout his life. To run for lieutenant governor, he said, “seems like a natural extension of what I’ve been doing.” But asked whether he plans to use the seat, should he win, as a stepping stone to higher office, Kimbell bristled.
“I’m not running for lieutenant governor as a practice round to run for governor or another higher office. I’m running because I want to serve in that capacity,” he said. “I’m not looking for the on-deck circle. I’m looking to be in the batter’s box right now.”
