DERBY—The Lieutenant Governor’s Race is well underway.  Last week, John Rodgers of Glover, a former Democratic state senator who is now running as a Republican, held his kick-off party at the Derby Cow Palace. Sen. Bobby Starr of North Troy, a Democrat, introduced Rodgers. Starr said that he believes Rodgers will be able to work with Republicans and some Democrats. 

Pat McDonald is joined by John Rodgers, the former Vermont House member and State Senator is running for Lieutenant Governor.

John Rodgers of Glover is a former Democratic Legislator of 16 years who recently switched to the Republican Party. He's running for the nomination in the August 13 primary against 2022 LG candidate and conservative activist Greg Thayer. Paul Bean interviewed him Thursday, August 8 at Bean Studios in Northfield. "When the Global Solutions Act - or what the heck ever it was called - was introduced, I knew it was going to lead to a carbon tax. I was one of the guys fighting it all the way in committee and on the floor," Rodgers said. "It's an absurd bill. It's like an illusion....all's they're doing is breaking the backs of Vermonters financially."

John Rodgers is a stonemason in West Glover. He also runs a construction business, plows driveways and rents properties, and for sixteen years he served in the Vermont Legislature in both the House and the Senate. He works seven days a week, and a huge reason he works so hard is so he can hold onto the farm that's been in his family for 200 years. It was a dairy when he was growing up there. Now he's growing weed for Vermont retailers. I've always been really curious about weed culture in Vermont before it was legal, which John knows a thing or two about. And in a time when so many farms are going out in this state, I wanted to talk with someone who's finding creative ways to keep his farm in farming.

John Rodgers, a former Vermont House and Senate Democrat from Glover, is running for lieutenant governor as a Republican. 

“I don’t feel like I left the party. I feel like the party left me,” Rodgers said in an interview Friday, describing himself as a moderate. “I feel closer to Phil Scott than I do the leadership in the Legislature, and that’s what really made me say, ‘Maybe it’s time to just try something different.’”

John Rodgers is one of the organizers for the protest "Tap Trees, Not Vermonters"