{"id":629533,"date":"2026-06-09T16:55:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T16:55:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/629533\/"},"modified":"2026-06-09T16:55:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T16:55:09","slug":"jersey-teenage-politician-congratulated-by-trump-says-he-is-not-a-fan-jersey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/629533\/","title":{"rendered":"Jersey teenage politician congratulated by Trump says he is not a fan | Jersey"},"content":{"rendered":"

Most politicians who win an election in Jersey<\/a> are probably satisfied with a pat on the back from their supporters and a mention in the local newspapers.<\/p>\n

But after becoming one of the youngest politicians in the world, Gabriel Raimondo <\/a>received a message of congratulations from Donald Trump.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very crazy,\u201d said Raimondo, who was aged 18 years and 10 days when he was elected to the island\u2019s parliament, the States Assembly.<\/a> \u201cIt makes it feel quite an achievement. It\u2019s really good to see Jersey being put on the map. It makes me proud of my island.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked if he was a fan of the US president, Raimondo said: \u201cI would have to say not at the moment.\u201d He was diplomatic enough not to say much more, instead focusing on the US political system.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just so far from our politics here. I don\u2019t like politics in the US because of the division that\u2019s created between parties. In the US with a two-party system, it\u2019s just so divided. In Jersey, most politicians don\u2019t align themselves behind a particular party. Here you\u2019ve got to work with each other. There has to be some sort of collaboration.\u201d<\/p>\n

There is no suggestion that Trump has been keenly watching the Jersey elections. Rather, asked by ITV about Raimondo\u2019s achievement, the US president replied that young people in politics had \u201cgreat imagination\u201d and wished the 18-year-old \u201ca lot of luck\u201d<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Raimondo is not from a political background: his mother is a beautician, his father a mechanic. He grew up in the picturesque parish of St Brelade, to the west of the island.<\/p>\n

Gabriel Raimondo cuddles the family\u2019s pug, Percy.<\/p>\n

He likes performing magic and spending time with the family dog, Percy the pug. \u201cMy family aren\u2019t at all into politics,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019d never had really a family connection to it \u2013 and, to be honest, I never wanted to be a politician.\u201d<\/p>\n

Raimondo was due to take A-levels this spring and summer \u2013 biology, chemistry and maths \u2013 but felt inspired to put them on hold and stand for election because of his concern at the island\u2019s social issues, which are usually hidden to the casual visitor.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cThe cost of living problem in Jersey is getting significantly worse. Our supermarkets here are much more expensive than in the UK. Families are feeling it because a lot of wages aren\u2019t significantly higher.\u201d<\/p>\n

Raimondo said he would like to see more job opportunities outside finance: \u201cWe lose a lot of our young people to the UK. They have to leave to go to university and very often they don\u2019t come back. It\u2019s really down to things like job opportunities.\u201d He said he would like sectors such as technology, biotechnology and creative arts to be promoted.<\/p>\n

The campaign was by no means all fun and positivity. Raimondo suffered abuse disturbing enough to be flagged to the police<\/a>. The Jersey Electoral Authority warned islanders to be \u201ccareful in believing what is written\u201d<\/a> in online posts.<\/p>\n

Raimondo said he had received death threats, had been spat at while knocking on doors, and his posters had been ripped down. \u201cI don\u2019t know if they\u2019re disenfranchised with politics or whether they particularly don\u2019t like me specifically,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

He persisted and was one of two independent candidates elected in St Brelade. The third successful candidate was a Reform Jersey candidate (not affiliated with Reform UK), but Raimondo came in ahead of a second Reform Jersey candidate. Across Jersey, Reform suffered disappointing results<\/a>.<\/p>\n

St Brelade\u2019s Bay, to the west of Jersey, where Raimondo lives. Photograph: Gary Le Feuvre\/Getty Images\/iStockphoto<\/p>\n

Raimondo said it felt \u201csurreal\u201d when he was elected. \u201cIt showed people do want to see something different. And that\u2019s important. I think it\u2019s really necessary that we have somebody sitting in our parliament that does represent the younger voice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked for his views on UK politics, Raimondo said he thought the move away from a two-party system was positive. He said: \u201cI do think it\u2019s a good thing to have more parties, parties that can represent more ideas so that people can actually have a choice on who they want rather than just having to pick the lesser of the two evils.\u201d<\/p>\n

He will take his A-levels in the winter, but no matter the results he will stay in Jersey and serve his community. \u201cI\u2019ve got to be here for my job. I\u2019ll be here for four years because that\u2019s the length of our terms. I could possibly see myself, if I\u2019m lucky enough to be re-elected, doing longer. I would like to go to university possibly at some point, maybe later on down the line.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Most politicians who win an election in Jersey are probably satisfied with a pat on the back from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":629534,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":["post-629533","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/629533","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=629533"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/629533\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/629534"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=629533"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=629533"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=629533"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}