What most people outside Vermont know about Christine Hallquist is that she was the country’s first transgender gubernatorial candidate. But it’s not what she ran on–and it’s not even what was most interesting about her campaign.

The day before election day, Christine and her team had just finished a fourteen-county Road to Victory Tour,  which involved going to places like Lunenburg, Vermont, population 1302. And this wasn’t her first visit to Lunenburg. Christine’s campaign focused on rural Vermont, on people in small towns in far flung places, and many of the towns she visited over the course of the campaign had never even seen a gubernatorial candidate before.

In my book, that’s what made her candidacy special. Not to mention the fact that the odds were against her–no ones beaten a gubernatorial incumbent in VT in 56 years.

I asked her if I could follow her around in the days leading up to the election. She said yes. And I did. I watched her planting Christine signs along Route 2. While she was at it, she righted a few sandwich board signs for Sunday night bingo that had blown over. She made countless calls and took credit card numbers from donors on the phone.

I guess it’s possible that other gubernatorial candidates do all this. But I doubt it.

Here’s Christine Hallquist in her final push for governor. Welcome.

Thank Yous

Thank you Teddy Waszazak, David Glidden, and Cameron Russell.

Thank you Mark Davis for producing this show with me.

Thank you John Van Hoesen for giving me the idea for this story.

Phone by Cameron Russell.