Updated at 5:30 p.m.
Ryan McLaren, a former top aide to U.S. Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., announced a campaign to be the state’s next lieutenant governor on Thursday.
The Essex Junction resident’s bid was widely expected. He will face former Lt. Gov. Molly Gray, who announced her 2026 campaign for the state’s second highest office last week, in this year’s Democratic primary. On the Republican side, current Lt. Gov. John Rodgers has said he plans to run again.
“I know times are tough right now. It’s too hard to find a home you can afford. It’s too hard to find child care or a doctor. It’s just too hard for working people to make ends meet,” McLaren said in a campaign launch video Thursday. “But trust me — I know what’s possible when we don’t quit.”
McLaren has not previously run for state-level office. Many lieutenant governors, meanwhile, first served in the Legislature. McLaren made the case that his decade working in Welch’s office — where he managed the Democrat’s campaigns, helped develop policy and, he said, routinely met with constituents — gave him relevant experience for the job.
He pointed, in an interview Thursday, to Welch-backed legislation supporting veterans exposed to toxic burn pits as some of “the stuff I’m most proud of” from his policy work in Congress.
In Vermont, the lieutenant governor has few day-to-day responsibilities besides presiding over the state Senate when it’s in session. But those in the role can, and often do, use it to advocate for specific issues before the Legislature and the public.
McLaren argued the office does not need to be held by someone who’s held a political post before. His opponent, Gray — who served as lieutenant governor from 2021 to 2023 — had not been elected to state-level office, either, before winning the job.
“There are other people who will be in the race that are politicians. But that is a different thing than actually doing things, and accomplishing things and working to make things better for Vermonters,” the 39-year-old said.
Before working for Welch, McLaren was the top adviser to the commissioner of Vermont’s Department of Motor Vehicles. In that role, he said he helped implement a 2013 law that allowed non-U.S. citizens to obtain Vermont driver’s licenses.
McLaren also worked in constituent services for former Democratic Gov. Peter Shumlin and, before that, was a field organizer for the state chapter of the Democratic Party.
In the interview, McLaren also noted how his life was changed by a skiing accident in 2017 at Mad River Glen that left him with little to no function below the knees and limited function between his waist and knees, a condition known as incomplete paraplegia. His condition has improved since then, he said, though he continues to use a wheelchair to get around.
“We get to choose whether or not we want to pull the cover over our eyes and hope for a miracle, or we want to, you know, get out of bed every day and just get to work and try and make things better,” McLaren said. “The only way to fail is to not try — and there’s hope in the trying.”
McLaren’s campaign also announced its key staff Thursday in a press release. Among them is senior adviser Jake Perkinson, a longtime Vermont Democratic strategist who also chaired the state party. Meanwhile, Jane Watson Stetson, former national finance chair for the Democratic National Committee, will oversee McLaren’s fundraising efforts.
The campaign will hold a kickoff event on Feb. 5, according to the release.
