Cassandra Levesque (born ) is an American politician in the state of
New Hampshire
New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...
. She has been a
Democratic member of the
New Hampshire House of Representatives
The New Hampshire House of Representatives is the lower house in the New Hampshire General Court, the bicameral legislature of the state of New Hampshire. The House of Representatives consists of 400 members coming from 204 legislative district ...
since 2018, representing the
Strafford 4 district.
Levesque has contributed to efforts to eliminate
child marriage
Child marriage is a marriage or similar union, formal or informal, between a child under a certain age – typically 18 years – and an adult or another child.
*
*
*
* The vast majority of child marriages are between a female child and a ma ...
in New Hampshire.
Early life
Levesque became a
Girl Scout
Girl Guides (known as Girl Scouts in the United States and some other countries) is a worldwide movement, originally and largely still designed for girls and women only. The movement began in 1909 when girls requested to join the then-grassroot ...
when she was five years old. She began researching child marriage as a project for the program's
Gold Award. Levesque worked with her state Representative,
Jackie Cilley
Jacalyn L. Cilley (born August 5, 1951) is a former Democratic member of the New Hampshire House of Representatives, representing the Strafford 4th District, and a former member of the New Hampshire Senate for the 6th district.
Biography
Ja ...
, to draft a bill that would eliminate provisions allowing minors to marry with judicial and parental consent. The state House of Representatives voted against the bill's passage.
Despite the bill's failure, other legislation sponsored by Cilley passed which raised the minimum age for marriage from 13 to 16.
Levesque said she would continue to advocate for the minimum marriage age to be raised to 18.
Electoral politics
When both incumbents from the Strafford 4 district, Cilley and
Len Turcotte, decided to retire, local Democrats convinced Levesque to run in the
2018 election.
Levesque was elected on a campaign of representing small businesses and addressing water-quality issues.
At 19, she became the youngest serving member of
New Hampshire's legislature.
Levesque has continued to press the issue of child marriage in the legislature.
Electoral history
2018
2020
2022
See also
*
List of the youngest state legislators in the United States
This is a list of the youngest individuals elected or appointed to a State legislature (United States), state legislature in the United States.
Overview
In 2014, the National Conference of State Legislatures estimated that 5% of state legislators ...
Notes
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Levesque, Cassandra
Living people
Democratic Party members of the New Hampshire House of Representatives
Year of birth missing (living people)
People from Barrington, New Hampshire
Southern New Hampshire University alumni
Women state legislators in New Hampshire
21st-century American politicians
21st-century American women politicians