SOUTH BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) – At The Residence at Quarry Hill in South Burlington, Nancy Thayer loves playing bridge.
Thirteen cards, two teams, and one goal — beating the other team.
“And there’s a category called, “no trump,” said Alex Rose, a regular player.
“No trump at all,” Thayer said. “Oh, I didn’t even think about trump and Trump.”
But upstairs at Thayer’s apartment, defeating former President Trump is in the cards — postcards to be exact.
The 99-year-old is getting help from her daughter, Emily Guziak. The handwritten cards are in support of U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown, the Ohio Democrat is running for reelection in that increasingly Republican state. Their hope is that Democrats retain control of the Senate, blunting any possible Trump victory.
“I’ll do anything that’s morally right, to try to keep Trump out of office,” said Emily, Thayer’s sister.
“I’m so scared for our country. I’ve never felt this way ever before,” Thayer said.
It’s a common feeling in deep blue Vermont. But with less than a week to go to the election, polls shows half the country would disagree with the women. It’s a political about-face for Thayer, who grew up in Evanston, Illinois, What was then a conservative suburb just outside Chicago and is considered the “birthplace of Prohibition.”
“Well, at one point I was a Republican,” Thayer said.
Her dad sold stocks and bonds. “My father was an ardent Republican, and he didn’t even want to talk about Roosevelt,” she said. “He thought Roosevelt was going to ruin the country.”
Thayer first voted in 1944, and like her dad, voted against FDR. He won an unprecedented four elections but died in office at the close of World War II. It was GOP all the way into the ‘60s for Nancy and her husband Bruce. “We didn’t like Kennedy,” she said. Kennedy was a Catholic and many in the country thought he would be taking orders from the Pope.”
It was in the ‘80s when Thayer’s political views moved to the Dems. “The world changed I guess,”she said. Now, she is a proud Kamala Harris supporter, proudly wearing the candidate’s T-shirt — Just not outside of her apartment.
At Quarry Hill’s dining room, what’s not on the menu? Politics. “I don’t want to lock horns with anybody that doesn’t have my beliefs,” Thayer said. “Nobody wants to ruffle the waters.”
But back at her apartment, Thayer says she hopes Harris gets a tidal wave of support.
Reporter Joe Carroll: What do you say to the people who say, ‘Well, you’re 99 years old, what should you care about the future of the country?’
Nancy Thayer: Because I have lots of wonderful children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. And I want it to be a good country for them.