It wasn’t long ago that Grant Webber Wosencroft was shuffling through the hallways of the Rhode Island Statehouse running errands and passing papers to and fro as a teenage, legislative page.

Now, he’s hoping to win a seat beside many of those same legislators as an elected peer.

A resident of East Providence since 2011, Wosencroft graduated from East Providence High School in 2022; the first cohort to do so after the new high school opened the prior fall. He said that this experience — arguing on behalf of the need for the school while attending as one of its students — was a foundational political moment leading to him now running as a Democrat for the District 65 seat in the Rhode Island House of Representatives.

“I believe that I am representative of the community as a whole. And I believe that I have the toolset and the experience as well to serve as state representative,” Wosencroft said in a recent interview. “On top of that, I also believe that I would be someone who listens to the community as opposed to listening to the party in order to inform their decisions as a legislator.”

In a short amount of time, Wosencroft has taken strides to be actively involved with many different governmental bodies. In addition to his time as a page in high school, Wosencroft served as a member of the superintendent’s committee on school buildings and construction, which oversaw the process of carrying out the construction of the new high school.

After high school, Wosencroft attended and graduated from Roger Williams University with a degree in political science on an accelerated, three-year path. During this time he worked as a legislative research intern for Rep. June Speakman (D-Dist. 68, Warren, Bristol), absorbing work being done to curb the state’s housing crisis. This led to a summertime fellowship at the Rhode Island Department of State, where he reported to the deputy director and assisted with tasks related to that year’s special election.

These culminated in landing a role through the White House Internship program, starting in January of 2024 with the United States Department of Commerce, which at the time was run by former governor Gina Raimondo. Wosencroft said he reported to the chief of staff and supported a team working on building business and labor relations within President Biden’s Indo-Pacific economic framework.

Asked about his major priorities should he be elected, Wosencroft was at the ready with five.

First on the list, as a top priority, was infrastructure, which he called “the single biggest issue facing our state right now.” He said he’d work towards the state adopting a “fix it first” mentality, and would work towards creating a minimum infrastructure quality score to require the executive branch to meet certain criteria before embarking on new capital projects and prioritize repairs to existing structures.

Next was energy policy, where Wosencroft said he would ensure there was additional oversight over proposed rate increases.

“Energy bills and rates are exploding at unaffordable rates and in the state. And the Public Utilities Commission, which is created to protect consumers, continues to approve these rate hikes,” he said. “I will ensure…these do not just go down blindly.”

Conservation was next.

“I believe that Rhode Island's greatest asset is our coastlines and our waterways,” he said. “It's where people leisure. It's also where people make money through fishing, through tourism, through aquaculture, and these are industries that employ thousands of Rhode Islanders. And I believe that preserving access to our coastline and cleaning up our bay will create jobs and opportunities in our state.”

Then came promoting equity.

“While Rhode Island does not face the ‘in-your-face’ or severe discrimination that we see in our southern counterparts and states, I do believe that we have have our shortcomings,” he said, adding that he would like to create an independent commission to ensure that peoples’ voting power was not being “diluted” through gerrymandering.

Lastly, Wosencroft set his sights on the economy. He specifically mentioned making the business environment better for maritime startups, small farmers, aquaculture, and the fishing/seafood industries as being particularly important.

“We've been seeing a lot of Rhode Island businesses that are leaving the state. We're seeing Rhode Island being ranked among the worst for business startups,” he said. “I believe that we need to take a stronger stance in creating a space where innovation drives and where businesses can really grow and prosper and employ Rhode Islanders with great-paying jobs.”

Wosencroft said that he doesn’t view his age as a disadvantage, rather a necessary infusion into a political system that has become stagnant with sharp divides between its representatives.

“What I’ve noticed is politics is really broken right now,” Wosencroft said. “We’re living in this time where we’re being pulled to these different ideological divides, either which way, and I believe that the path forward is somewhere in the middle. From my observation, I believe that we need a new generation of leadership, of new ideas, who can bring people together and build consensus to move our state forward. I believe that we’re truly better together, and that’s why I’m in this race.”

Wosencroft faces two challengers in the District 65 primary, including fellow political newcomer, Cameron St. Germain, and the incumbent representative, Matthew Dawson, who is the party-endorsed candidate.