Rep. Mike Rice

Several hundred of my closest friends and I showed up in Manchester, VT yesterday to say this country has no kings. Democracy is a verb, an action we have to take over and over again, not an abstract idea or static state. We’ll keep on showing up to demand the community, the state, the country we deserve and know is possible.

As the 2025 legislative session kicks off, I’m sharing a throwback to my first day on the job in January 2023. It was this energy I tried to bring everyday for the past two years, whether it was in the committee room, on the floor, or back here at home. It was an honor to have the opportunity to do it. Big challenges ahead for our community and our state. I’m not going anywhere—I’m right here alongside you, rooting for results and doing everything I can to help build a strong future for Bennington and Rutland counties and all of Vermont.

Danby, Dorset, Landgrove, Mt. Tabor, Peru: it has been an honor to spend every day for the past two years working hard to represent you. I’m disappointed in the results here at home and terrified about the results from across the country.

To those of you who helped, who made phone calls, knocked doors, wrote postcards, waved signs, donated: thank you.

Taking the leap to run for office was an act of hope. It wasn’t an easy decision; because of the way our legislature is set up, it’s very hard to make this job work as a young working person. But I also knew: the challenges we face together are big and complicated, and they require the perspectives of those who otherwise haven’t usually been able to serve. That’s why I made the decision — and the sacrifice — to run and serve.

Today, I absolutely see the attraction of shutting down, retreating, going back to our corners. But it won’t work. We have to remain connected. We have to push forward. We have to take the leaps, make the sacrifices, and build the community and the country we seek. So, it will look different for me than it has for the past two years, but that’s what I’ll be doing. It will be hard. It will be worth it.

Thank you, Kathy and Joe Egan, for your endorsement and letter to the editor!

“Mike is providing real solutions to complex and modern problems. Mike is a true leader. He is a man of conscience, hard work, integrity, and intellect who is uniquely qualified to make Vermont a beautiful home for all of us. He is passionately driven to be fair and to serve all of his constituents. Please join us and our friends and neighbors (Democrats, Republicans and Independents) in re-electing this man of vision and commitment. We are with Mike!”

Read the full letter here: https://www.manchesterjournal.com/opinion/letters/letter-to-the-editor-mike-rice-for-bennington-rutland/article_bb9a5d26-9306-11ef-a43a-5fef6dc8dd85.html

I’m honored to have Treasurer Mike Pieciak’s endorsement, because he knows I’m committed to working hard and finding real solutions to our shared challenges. Thanks, !

Thank you, Austin and Gillian Chinn for your endorsement and letter to the editor!