Youngest Republican Legislator in New York State Hails from Hyde Park
In their early 20s, normally the majority of students are excited to be nearing the end of their college careers, however, 21-year-old Will Truitt, is set on a different path, as he was elected the youngest Republican legislator in the state of New York at the age of 20.
Out of the 25 legislators in Dutchess County, he is one of three who are aged 25 and under. He works with Marc Coviello who is 25 and Ellen Nesbit who is 22. Truitt takes pride in this fact because, “Of all 62 counties in New York, no other county can say that.”
Truitt grew up in Hyde Park and said that even as a child, he always loved the government, politics and following the news. By the age of 18, he knew that he wanted to do something in politics, but wasn’t sure exactly what. He decided to stay local and attend Marist College, which would immediately allow him to get involved with the local government as a freshman.
That year, Truitt interned at the office of County Executive Marc Molinaro. Over the course of the internship, Molinaro became someone within the local legislature that Truitt could really confide in and look up to.
“I worked in his office for a year and I learned a tremendous amount about the county,” Truitt explains. “I became very close with him and some of the other legislators.”
Truitt says that Molinaro was very helpful in ensuring he was up-to-date with his work, and when he decided to run for Dutchess County legislator at age 19, Molinaro gave him advice on how to run his campaign.
Truitt explains that his campaign strategy differed slightly from those of typical Republican candidates, but he believes that his strategy largely contributed to his win.
When Truitt ran in 2015, he knew that because it was not a presidential election year, it would in turn not be a big election year. He was fighting for the votes of the citizens who vote every year regardless, which he says makes up less than half of the population. With that in mind, he knew he needed to garner as many of those votes as possible, regardless of the residents’ political party affiliations.
To do this, Truitt spent almost six months going door-to-door to the houses of over 4,000 residents — twice each.
“Generally for a Republican, they go [door-to-door] to all Republican and non-registered houses…not Democrats,” Truitt explains. “My strategy was to go to everyone, and I actually focused on the Democrats.”
His tactic was to approach Democratic households in the most genuine way possible, and to simply explain what his goals were and that he truly did want to represent the area as a whole, not just the Republican population. He instilled in the Democratic residents that he wanted to work with everyone’s ideas to make Hyde Park and the Town of Poughkeepsie a better place to live.
Although this campaign tactic was risky and could have easily deterred many Democrats from voting for him, it ended up being what landed him the vote.
“It could have blown up in my face,” he says. “You have people who will yell and say, ‘You’re Republican, I’m not voting for you!’ or others will just be downright nasty.”
He recalls, though, that most people were happy to listen to what he had to say. “I had a lot of Democrats vote for me… It actually put me over the edge,” he says.
Despite winning the votes of not only the Republicans, but the local Democrats and Independents as well, Truitt kept a pessimistic attitude about his chances of winning throughout the entirety of the campaign.
Truitt knows the importance of gaining the independent vote, so early in the process, he called the chairman of the local Independent party to express his interest in being interviewed to be endorsed by the party as a candidate during election season. He was turned down, which only added to his negative outlook on winning the election.
“I’m always pessimistic. I like to be, because I think it makes you work harder and you don’t take anything for granted,” he says. “To be honest, I didn’t think I would win the election but I knew if I kept working, I could.”
Never did it cross his mind, though, that he was too young to be taken seriously. Truitt comments that Dutchess County is a leader in having young people involved in the government. He says that in this area, people really like to see young people in the legislature.
Truitt is nearing the end of the first year of his two-year term as Dutchess County Legislator. At the end of the two years, he intends on running for re-election. After that, he wants to use the finance background he has gained from Marist College to work for a local financial firm or bank.
Until then, Truitt will continue his career at Marist, which wraps up in May. During his first three years at the school, he took 18 credits every semester, so as to get ahead. As a current senior, he is a part-time student, so his course-load is half of that. This smaller load allows him to devote all the time he needs to his job within the legislature.
He says that as a college student working in the local government, it is important to keep a balanced schedule, so that you can keep yourself fully committed to all of your duties.
“Our meetings are always in the evenings, so I take morning classes and have no scheduling conflicts,” Truitt explains. He jokingly boasts, “I’m one of the few legislators who still has perfect attendance at the meetings!”
In his free time on nights and weekends, Truitt goes door-to-door to talk to people, and makes an effort to see his friends on Fridays and Saturdays.
This dedication to keeping a balanced work, school and social life is part of what helped this young Republican win the vote in Dutchess County. He mentions that his ultimate goal as a legislator is to help America to move in the right direction.
“It’s tough to find a job and to get ahead for most people,” he says. “Our generation needs to step up and get involved.”
