TOPSHAM, Vt. — This fall, Aiden Otterman will be a senior at Thetford Academy.
He plans to graduate in January, and depending on what happens on Nov. 3, to go directly from the classroom into the Vermont Legislature.
If he’s successful, he would be the youngest person ever elected to the Legislature. While several House members have gone directly from college to Montpelier at age 22, Otterman, who turns 18 in October, would be the first teen lawmaker.
“When I go to people’s houses, they usually ask me about my age,” Otterman said. His answer generally includes a version of this statement: “We need a young, energetic person in the state House.”
It isn’t only Otterman’s age that gives the campaign for the Orange-Caledonia district, which comprises Topsham, his hometown, and Groton and Newbury, an unusual profile.
For starters, he faces a quiet primary challenge for the Democratic nomination from the Rev. James Merriam, who serves as pastor of Wells River Congregational Church. There’s also a formidable independent running in November’s general election: Susan Culp, who serves as Selectboard chairwoman in Newbury, which has a larger population than the district’s other two towns combined.
And there is even a challenge from within his own family.
Otterman’s great-uncle Tom Otterman is the lone Republican on the November ballot. Both Ottermans are running on the name recognition conferred by Harvey B. “Bud” Otterman Jr., who held the seat from 2000 to 2008. Bud Otterman, who died in 2012 after a long career as a lawyer, was Aiden’s great-grandfather, and Tom’s father.
“My grandfather does say that me and Tom are running on nepotism,” Aiden Otterman said.
Knocking on doors
So far, Otterman is running a vigorous campaign for the Democratic nomination. He estimates that he’s knocked on more than 700 doors in a district where many of the homes are spread out on back roads. He’s also raised around $3,000 for the campaign.
He decided to run for the House as a counterweight to the trend of young people leaving Vermont for careers, and because he doesn’t see the state enacting policies that help poor and working people.
“I didn’t want to become a statistic of a young person” who left the state to go to college and didn’t come back, he said.
Topsham has a poverty rate of just under 20%, he said, even as home prices continue to rise. “We need somebody in the Statehouse who’s actually going to fight for working people,” he said.
Otterman’s great-uncle’s candidacy caused him a little consternation, partly because he got into the race early, and told his family so, while Tom Otterman gathered signatures to get on the ballot late in the process.
A familiar opponent
There was a practical reason for the delay, Tom Otterman said in a response to emailed questions.
“We spent all spring trying to find someone to fill the the seat on the Republican ballot, to no avail,” he said. The week before the filing deadline, he decided he couldn’t let the seat go unchallenged. He retired recently after 45 years running his surveying and septic consulting business and has time to devote to public service.
Tom Otterman has served two stints on the Topsham Selectboard totaling 15 years.
His grand-nephew, however, has experience in the Statehouse’s committee rooms, where he has testified as a member of the Vermont State Youth Council in 2024 and 2025, including as its chairman last year. He also attended the Governor’s Institute for Global Issues and Youth Action, and was the lone Vermonter at the the Yale Young Global Scholars program.
“I have experience in policy and policymaking, at least two or three years’ worth,” he said.
The commitment Otterman has shown to political action is a departure from his younger self. Like the rest of the Otterman family, he’s from West Topsham. He struggled through Waits River Elementary School, but found his footing working on his grandfather’s farm, which included a 3,000-tap sugaring operation.
Like most Vermont House districts, Orange-Caledonia often votes for person over party. Bud Otterman narrowly defeated a fellow Republican in the 2000 primary, running as part of the “Take Back Vermont” movement against the state’s new civil unions law. Eight years later, Democrat Chip Conquest won the district, defeating Otterman by fewer than three dozen votes.
Most recently, the seat has been held by Joseph Parsons, like Culp an independent from Newbury. He was first elected in 2020.
Aiden Otterman isn’t facing a strong primary challenge. Merriam, the Wells River pastor, isn’t planning to run a very active campaign.
“I would be just delighted if Aiden wins, because I know he’d do a wonderful job,” Merriam, 37, said in a phone interview. With two young children and a full-time job, Merriam doesn’t have much time to campaign.
But after a conversation with Otterman, they decided that it made sense for Merriam to stay on the ballot. “The only reason I end up as the candidate is if too many people can’t get past the age issue,” Merriam said.
Youth as advantage
The “age issue” is hard to quantify, particularly in Vermont, where voters choose based on any number of factors because legislative politics is so close to the ground.
“It shouldn’t be shocking to see someone in a position of political power if they’re not in their 50s, 60s or 70s,” State Sen. Becca White, a White River Junction Democrat, said in an interview.
White was first elected to the Hartford Selectboard at age 20, and to the Legislature at 23. Youth can be an advantage when the electorate wants to turn the page, she said.
“By being a young person, I was considered a change candidate,” she said.
At a time when the economics of the state threaten the futures of young people, being a young candidate might carry a particular advantage.
“People know that our demographics are becoming a challenge,” White said. A young candidate “would be able to voice that perspective.”
Young state legislative candidates aren’t unheard of in the U.S., particularly in New Hampshire, which has elected three 18-year-olds: James Wheeler, in 2002; Valerie McDonnell, in 2022; and James Thibault, in 2024. One of the youngest-ever Vermont lawmakers was Rep. Michael Obuchowski, who was elected about a month before he turned 21 and served for 22 terms, including six as Speaker of the House.
Otterman wants to win, and is working hard, but he’s running a neighborly campaign. He mostly wants to see his generation’s prospects improve. And he’s enjoying himself. He’s looking forward to the parade at the West Newbury Summer Festival next month.
“We need to start working together for the common goal of improving the lives of everyday Vermonters,” he said.
