Proctor software developer Genevieve Duchesneau has joined the race for state representative in the Rutland 8 district, covering Pittsford and Proctor, running against incumbent Republican Alicia Malay. Duchesneau describes herself as an “extremely progressive” Democrat focused on affordable housing, equitable taxation, and local control over schools — but not one who’s tied to the party line.

“For a district rep position, I think we need people who are less looking at partisan politics and more at what helps our community and what’s the consensus of the people,” she said. “I don’t have any aspirations of having a career in this. I have aspirations of wanting to see our country be more of the free will, good will country that I believe it can be.”

Duchesneau got a wide view of that country as a child: her family lived in multiple states, including several years in Burlington when she was a preteen, before she eventually settled in Nevada. There she worked as a legal writer and paralegal, “learning all about politics and the court.” She later moved to California, studied computer information systems, and met her wife, who is also a software developer. After a stop in Oregon working for Daimler Automotive, the couple moved to Proctor four years ago. The comparatively affordable housing, abundant nature, and small-town feel were big draws.

“It feels like a community that we can grow in and that cares about its people. We get half our [garden] starts from neighbors we’ve met,” she said. “We have a sense of community that I didn’t feel in any other towns I’ve lived in.”

Putting Technology to Work

Duchesneau’s work focuses on computer vision, machine learning, and artificial intelligence. She says she’d put that background to use in the statehouse if she’s elected.

“I basically have a robotic research team that I go to for every single thing I work with,” she said. The tools, which she developed herself, are trained to supply multiple reliable sources for each fact, giving her a comprehensive understanding of knotty issues.

She’s no booster of the ways AI is currently being used in society, however, or of the resource-intensive data centers needed to run it.

“I’m very against having data centers here,” she said. “They will ruin our state in ways that most people will not begin to understand until ten years down the road when none of us have water we can drink … They don’t bring jobs. They bring money for a few already wealthy people.”

Housing, Schools, and Taxes

Like several other candidates running locally this fall, Duchesneau named affordable housing as a top concern. That includes not only keeping rent and home prices within reach, but also making sure people can maintain their homes and afford their real estate taxes over the long term, she said.

Schools are another key issue for Duchesneau, who opposes the current statewide push to combine schools in order to combat rising costs.

“Local schools are a foundational keystone for building a long-term community,” she said. “Instead of deciding which schools to close, [we need to ask] which schools to open. Which places need a new classroom, a new library or new computers, because the kids deserve the same level of education as everyone else, or even better.”

Taxes play a key role in achieving her goals on both of these fronts. She advocates for raising taxes on large businesses and wealthy individuals, such as those who own multiple vacation homes in the state, while keeping taxes for those with lower incomes affordable and using the proceeds to benefit ordinary people.

As for higher taxes chasing businesses and individuals out of the state, she says that scenario hasn’t played out in places like California and New York because those places are appealing in many other ways.

“I still think that we are going to have people who go, ‘Vermont is beautiful. I want to have not just my workers and my business, but my family and myself in Vermont,’” she said.

Duchesneau readily admits that she doesn’t have all the answers to these complicated policy problems — but she’s eager to help find them.

“If I can make some iota of difference, if I can shift some bit of the general perspective or consensus from animosity to goodwill for other human beings in our communities, then I think it's worth trying,” she said.