4 American high school students running for Governor

The 2018 Kansas gubernatorial race has heated up as not one, but four teenagers have announced they will run.

(top row) Ethan Randleas, Dominic Scavuzzo and (bottom row) Tyler Ruzich and Jack Bergeson. Photo: CBS News

AP reported that the Kansas gubernatorial election on November 6, 2018, recorded a record number of candidates. There were 18 candidates, including 11 Republicans, 6 Democrats and 1 independent. This number is expected to continue to increase as the race for governor heats up.

Notable in this race is the appearance of 4 candidates under 18 years old. They are high school students, interested in politics.

The first teenager to set his sights on the governor’s race was 16-year-old Jack Bergeson. He noticed that Kansas state law had no age limit for running for governor, which prompted Bergeson, a Democrat, to apply in 2016.

Jack's story was covered by multiple newspapers and actually inspired three other teenagers. Tyler Ruzich, Ethan Randleas, and Dominic Scavuzzo decided to try their hand at running in the 2018 election.

CBS News hosted a meeting between journalist Dean Reynolds and these four young candidates.

“I will go forward and fight for what the voters want. If I can really convince the voters that what I say is true and sincere, different from the views that people still think about American politics, they will vote for me,” Jack shared.

“We all have a chance to win. No matter how big the chance is, the important thing is we all have a chance to win the election,” said Republican candidate Tyler Ruzich.

Republican candidate Dominic Scavuzo is optimistic about his campaign because he believes he has a younger and fresher perspective than his more experienced opponents.

Libertarian candidate Ethan Randleas said his friends were not surprised when he announced his candidacy. Ethan said his campaign will be about enacting tax cuts and tightening spending.

Tyler, on the other hand, emphasizes public education reform, while Dominic believes that a message of transparency will make him successful. Ethan takes a bold approach by considering legalizing certain drugs.

Since they are still studying, the four candidates consider campaigning as extracurricular activities. They promise to study and balance their schedules appropriately.

“Those teenagers are not going to be governor of Kansas,” said Neal Allen, a political scientist at Wichita State University. “None of them have any political experience. But even our current president had no experience when he was elected, so I think this could be a trend.”

According to Dan Tri