[B]urlington Progressives endorsed Carina Driscoll in the race for mayor.
Driscoll announced her candidacy on Monday. She is a former state representative and Burlington city councilor and Sen. Bernie Sanders’ stepdaughter. Driscoll is running as an independent against incumbent Mayor Miro Weinberger, a Democrat, and Infinite Culcleasure, a community organizer who is also an independent. Burlington voters will elect a mayor and City Council members in March.
She beat Culcleasure for the Progressive endorsement by a vote of 116-84.
Burlington residents yearn for public engagement, Driscoll said in a speech before the Progressives voted. People have a right to determine the future of public assets like Memorial Auditorium, the Moran Plant, Burlington Telecom and the waterfront, she said.
“The message of this campaign is clear: Burlington is not for sale,” she said.
The 200-person crowd at the Sustainability Academy on Burlington’s North Street was the largest group she has spoken to, Driscoll said. She is still getting used to the spotlight.
“It’s been 13 years since I have been out front as a political figure,” Driscoll said.
Her opponent, Infinite Culcleasure is a New York City transplant and Old North End resident. He describes himself as a community activist, and has worked to organize local students and has worked for Spectrum Youth and Family Services.
Cucleasure spoke candidly about Burlington politics.
“Even through it promises to be open and inclusive, it is packed with this white normative behavior based on the status quo,” Culcleasure said in his speech to Burlington Progressives.
“There is a powerful tension between our political rhetoric and rituals and our everyday actions, and I live in that tension. I challenge people to confront it,” Culcleasure said.
Culcleasure said his first name “Infinite” was a nickname that he adopted as his legal name when he was 21. His birth name was Percy.
In the races for City Council seats, Ward 3 is one of the contested races in Burlington’s eight wards. Brian Pine, a Ward 3 city councilor in the 1990s, edged out Jim Lockridge, executive director of music incubator Big Heavy World, for the Progressive endorsement.
Pine said his experience makes him a clear choice. Pine came of age politically when Sen. Bernie Sanders was Burlington mayor, he said.
“I have a vision of the role that local government can play, in terms of making it a more just society,” he said.
Pine says he put his vision into practice when he worked for the Community and Economic Development office on affordable housing initiatives.
Pine cast his ballot for Driscoll. “Carina has the right background, the right mix of vision and passion,” Pine said.
The caucus meeting Wednesday was the second largest Pine has seen, he said.
Pine has attended the Progressive Party caucus since the party was formed. The largest gathering was in 1989 when Progressives sought to replace longtime Burlington Mayor Bernie Sanders after he chose not to seek re-election. Sanders ran for the U.S. House in 1990 and served in Congress for 16 years. He was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2006.
In that meeting, Progressives endorsed former mayor Peter Clavelle. “We filled Memorial Auditorium,” Pine said.
Lockridge said his expectations for winning the endorsement were low, citing his political independence.
“I’m at the Progressive Party as an independent asking for Progressive support,” Lockridge said, “I didn’t walk in here anticipating I would necessarily earn it, I’m fighting for it.”
In a Sustainability Academy hallway, Lockridge told his potential constituents in the Ward 3 caucus he would be deeply transparent as a councilor.
“I’m determined to face tough questions and know that people should feel they can engage me,” he said.
Other Progressive City Council endorsements:
- Jesse Warren nabbed the Ward 5 endorsement. He faces incumbent Democrat Chip Mason.
- UVM student Carter Neubieser won the Ward 8 endorsement and faces incumbent independent Adam Roof.
- Ward 6 resident Charles Simpson won the Progressive endorsement will face incumbent Democrat Karen Paul
- Incumbent Councilors Max Tracy, P-Ward 2, Ali Dieng, D/P-Ward 7, and Sharon Bushor, I-Ward 1, were all endorsed.
