Jackson Iacovone is perhaps the youngest person in modern history to seek a position on the Patrick County Board of Supervisors, with his write-in campaign for the Smith River District in the November election.
Jackson Iacovone is running for the Smith River District seat on the Board of Supervisors as a write-in candidate.
Iacovone, who is currently 17, will turn 18 — the minimum age required to be on the ballot—on July 30.
He will face Malcolm Roach Sr. and Rick Swink in the election. Their names will appear on the ballot, while Iacovone’s must be written in to count as a formal vote.
Iacovone said he decided to seek the position because he believes someone younger needs to be on the board.
Besides himself, he noted, the youngest candidate is Swink, who is 40.
“I mean we need someone who’s going to be able to empower the younger generations but also knows. I mean, I can tell you exactly what a lot of these younger generations want, and I feel that’s something these older people won’t be able to provide,” he said.
After reviewing the county’s budget reports, Iacovone said he believes there is some excess.
He cited examples that include the Patrick County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office, which he said has five or six people listed as attorneys on its website.
However, in addition to the Commonwealth’s Attorney, the office includes only one assistant and one deputy, with salaries paid by the State Compensation Board. Support staff, as well as grant-funded Victim/Witness staff and a Violent Crime Prevention Specialist, are included in the list.
Iacovone also believes the miscellaneous sections of various departmental budgets are being misclassified. He pointed to a miscellaneous line item of $1.17 million in the Department of Social Services budget.
“I feel that the government should be responsible in putting on that budget ‘this is what it’s going to’ and have a breakdown, because the people deserve to know what their money is going towards,” he said. “With the government, we shouldn’t have to reach out to a specific department to know … what they’re spending the money on. We should be able to go to the budget that the Board of Supervisors approves and posts, and see what they’re using the money on.”
If elected, Iacovone said one of his top priorities would be improving local education, of which he is critical.
“The main reason for that is the Board of Supervisors right now will tell you our education’s fine. Especially with me being so young, I’ve been through their school system. Education’s not good. They don’t push for kids to get good grades, they do not push for tutoring.” The board, he alleged, “just tell you lies about the education system.”
Iacovone also wants full transparency from the county government. He believes there’s no reason why local government should hide information from residents.
“Transparency means coming out and telling everyone, ‘Hey, this is what’s going on, this is what we’re voting on, we want your opinion.’ Not hiding stuff and then finding out, you know, when you call them being like, ‘Hey, why are taxes so high,’ and finding out from them, ‘Oh yeah, we raised them,’” he said.
The board is required to hold public hearings before voting on tax increases and/or the budget.
When he says he wants to bring bigger businesses into the county, Iacovone said some people see that as a threat to small businesses. But he wants to support and empower local shops.
“We want to empower that because that’s something that we’re proud of. We want to bring in bigger businesses that aren’t going to threaten the small businesses,” he said.
Iacovone said it would also be nice for local families to have local options to celebrate their children’s birthdays, instead of driving an hour away.
“That will also bring up our economic prosperity. I mean we’re not going over to Martinsville and helping them, we’re staying in our hometown helping us,” he added.
He also wants to promote struggling job fields like healthcare, trades, and transportation, which he believes are essential to the county’s stability.
To support that, Iacovone suggested creating internship opportunities for high school students to spark interest in those fields, or offering job training classes through Patrick & Henry Community College (P&HCC).
Another goal is to be more proactive in the community, particularly through social media platforms like Facebook.
“A lot of people are on Facebook and a lot of them want to know what’s going on. For my district that I will hopefully be representing, I plan to get an email list and every week, every two weeks, email them like, ‘Hey, this is what’s going on. I want to hear from you.’ Because like I’ve told other people, this is not for me. I’m doing this for the people in our county,” he said.
Iacovone said he recently spent a few months as an intern with the Floyd County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office, where, in addition to learning about the law, he also learned about local government.
Floyd County Commonwealth’s Attorney Eric Bransom said Iacovone’s schedule provided opportunities for him to interact with local government officials and attend some meetings.
Iacovone was “interested in government and law enforcement,” Branscom said.
“A lot of the procedures that also need to be run, I learned that with that internship,” Iacovone said.
Iacovone also worked in his uncle’s graphic design business about two years ago. In that role, he was responsible for ensuring the financials were in order.
Last year, when his uncle was considering closing the store, Iacovone said he suggested getting rid of unnecessary expenses.
“So, what he essentially ended up doing was closing his storefront and going straight to working from home and all this, and he ended up making 10 times the profit that he’s ever seen in one month,” he said.
Since announcing his candidacy last week, Iacovone said he’s received a lot of support. Many people, he said, think it’s a good idea to have someone younger in office.
“There’s been a few that are questioning my experience and my ag,” he said, adding that he feels his qualifications are “better than most people that run for the board.”
While he hasn’t yet attended any board meetings in person, Iacovone said he watches them online. He plans to begin attending in person soon.
A 2025 graduate of Patrick County High School (PCHS), Iacovone is currently attending Virginia Western Community College for paralegal studies. He will attend Radford University in the fall to study political science.
