Kesha Ram is set to become the Senate’s first woman of color following Tuesday’s primary election, as incumbent Sen. Chris Pearson, P/D-Chittenden, barely held on.
In the state’s most hotly contested Chittenden Senate race, Ram was second only behind incumbent Ginny Lyons in total votes earned. Lyons received 21,187 votes and Ram earned 20,171.
Phil Baruth and Michael Sirotkin also won primary challenges, claiming 14,672 and 15,193 votes, respectively. Newcomer Thomas Chittenden, the seventh-removed nephew of Vermont’s first (and third) Gov. Thomas Chittenden, earned 13,544 votes.
Incumbent Pearson won by a hair — coming in sixth in the 13-person race, only 42 votes above challenger June Heston. He received 11,759 votes while Heston claimed 11,717.
The Chittenden Senate race proved to be the most competitive legislative race of this primary season, after two seats opened up when Sen. Tim Ashe and Sen. Debbie Ingram dropped out to compete for the lieutenant governor post. Both outgoing senators were ultimately defeated by Molly Gray in Tuesday’s LG primary.
Together, the 13 Democratic candidates brought in $270,000 to fund their campaigns. This almost matched the spending in the 2016 race — when 11 Democrats brought in $274,000.
The six Democratic candidates will be challenged by two Republican candidates for Senate, Ericka Redic and Tom Chastenay, in November’s general election. However, the primary winners will likely make it to the Statehouse, given the voting trends of historically blue Chittenden County.
Heston made a surprising surge at the end of the night. At one point, with 27 precincts reporting, Pearson was only one point ahead of Heston, who had a 14-point lead when 26 precincts were reporting.
Pearson, one of the Senate’s most progressive members, did not return requests for comment Tuesday night.
Heston is the former chief executive officer of the Vermont Make a Wish Foundation and secured endorsements from former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean and former Vermont National Guard Adjutant General Martha Rainville.
Ram previously served in the Statehouse as a representative from 2008 to 2016. She was the first representative of color from Burlington and if elected will be the first woman of color to serve in the Vermont Senate. Ram’s father is Indian and her mother is Jewish American.
“It feels like a far greater responsibility than privilege,” Ram said. “When you are the first it is your job to not be the last. And to turn around and say, we are not monolithic. We need the voices of black women, indigenous women, trans women, you know, so we need a more representative democracy.”
Ram is currently an equity and inclusion consultant serving school districts and other organizations. A former preschool teacher, legal advocacy director for Steps to End Domestic Violence and civic engagement specialist for the city of Burlington, Ram said she wants to advocate for more policies to promote fair and impartial policing in the Statehouse.
“We have been studying these issues for a long time. And we keep moving the goalposts on communities of color and social justice activists who have come with the data, who have come showing that we have a deep disparity of problems in the state,” Ram said. “And we need to actually act.”
Chittenden, a South Burlington City Council member and a University of Vermont information technology lecturer and faculty senate president, said he hopes his name recognition didn’t win him the race.
“I didn’t want to run on name recognition,” he told VTDigger at midnight, when results were finalized. “I’d like to think I have a proven track record of community service. I hope they saw me as someone who wants to do right.”
He said he wants to bring a sharper focus to ways the state can attract young people and more investment opportunities.
Dylan Giambattista, another Chittenden Senate candidate, gave up a run for reelection to his Essex Junction House seat — which he has held since 2016 — to run his Senate campaign. Ultimately, Giambattista came in ninth for the Senate race. He wouldn’t say specifically if he has any future political aspirations, but he wouldn’t rule out jumping back into the game.
“I’m 34 years old, and I love Vermont politics as much as anyone,” Giambatista said. “I’m looking forward to taking a break.”
He said the adjustments his campaign had to make due to the pandemic — limiting in-person campaigning and ceasing donation collections — may have contributed to his loss.
