On paper, Max Tracy and Brian Pine look like very similar mayoral candidates.
The two Progressive city councilors support many of the same policies and closely adhere to the Progressive Party’s platform. But to those who have known both men for years and observed them in the Queen City’s political sphere, they have distinct leadership styles and priorities that would shape their mayoral agenda, if either were elected.
Tracy is known as the fiercely principled City Council president of the younger generation, who doesn’t pull punches and isn’t afraid to openly critique people or policies he disagrees with. Pine is described as more mild-mannered, principled but thoughtful in his approach, and less inclined to get aggressive in politics.
And both candidates defined themselves in different eras of the Progressive Party: Tracy — who was elected in 2012 — rode the new wave of the energetic, youthful progressive demographic, leading the Progressives into a position of holding a majority of seats on the council.
Pine double-dips. He got his political footing in the old-guard Progressive Party of the 1980s and ’90s when he first served on the council, but since being reelected in 2018, he’s also found a home among the new wave.
Burlington’s political observers question whether a hard-line Progressive like Tracy will rally his base and conjure up enough support around the issues to extend his party’s City Council seat gains to the mayor’s office. Some theorize that Pine’s reputation as a unifier and a bridge builder is what the party needs to draw the city’s moderates away from incumbent Mayor Miro Weinberger, a Democrat elected in 2012 who is seeking his fourth term.
Independent Councilor Ali Dieng, Ward 7, is also running for mayor. He’s not caucusing with either party, but instead chose to run as an independent.
Concerns about electability
When Pine and Tracy were announced as Progressive Party mayoral candidates, Tracy immediately took the opportunity to criticize Weinberger.
In his first interview with VTDigger about his candidacy, Tracy described Weinberger’s leadership style as “top-down” and “neoliberal.” Tracy is making this race as much about what he sees as Weinberger’s failed leadership as about the progressive issues he supports.
“The fresh start that was promised by Miro eight years ago has grown stale,” Tracy said.
Tracy continued to press these criticisms against Weinberger in the first Progressive candidate forum. But Pine didn’t bring up Weinberger once. And when asked during his formal candidacy announcement what he thought Weinberger’s vulnerabilities and strengths in this race, Pine dodged.
“My style is really not to throw potshots at people. It is not to attack people or criticize them,” Pine said in response. “I consider the mayor a friend. He’s a good person.”
Former longtime Progressive City Councilor Jane Knodell sees the contrast in their willingness to criticize the mayor as one of the central differences between Pine and Tracy.
Pine “doesn’t want to be negative on anybody,” Knodell said. “He just wants to talk about who he is and what he can do.” She’s seen Pine focus more on touting his experience in Burlington politics. He first served on the council from 1991 to 1995 and ran again in 2018. He also worked for the Community and Economic Development Office for 18 years.
Knodell thinks Tracy is relying on the energy of the young wave that helped the Progressives secure a majority on the City Council at the last Town Meeting Day election. This comes at a time of increasing passion on issues of justice — particularly racial justice and police reform — among this voting bloc, she says, that could help him win the party nomination. The party caucus Dec. 1 will choose a party nominee for the mayor’s race.
“I think Brian is not seen as being as aggressive, as anti-Miro,” Knodell said. “We know that there are many people who prefer that, if you will, aggressive approach.”
But if Tracy wins the nomination, she doesn’t think he’s as attractive to people across the city. She says this is the “dilemma” for the Progressive Party — will its most energized members put forward a candidate they’re excited about, but who may not resonate with the city’s moderates, and consequently lose them the mayor’s seat? Or will they put forward someone who, Knodell argues, is more widely palatable like Pine?
Knodell said she’s not participating in the Progressive caucus, but if she were, she would vote for Pine. “I want someone in the mayor’s office who has the maturity and the temperament to govern the city,” she said. “Max doesn’t meet that test of maturity and temperament.”
Her views are informed by her critiques of the current makeup of the Progressive Party, which she described as more activist-focused that “defines itself in opposition” to Weinberger. Knodell, who served on the council on and off throughout the ’90s and into the 2000s, said the Progressive Party she knew first was more collaborative and worked with Democrats and Republicans.
Knodell has reason to be disgruntled with the new-age Progressive Party. In 2019, she lost the party’s nomination to Perri Freeman, who touted her activist roots and raised questions about Knodell’s support for the Burlington Telecom sale, the CityPlace deal and Republican Kurt Wright’s reelection campaign to the Legislature.
‘The reality of governance’
Knodell isn’t the only veteran Progressive who has concerns about the current identity of the Progressive Party. Peter Clavelle, who was mayor from 1983 to 1993 and then from 1995 to 2006 as a Progressive, said he doesn’t “understand where the heart and soul of the Progressive Party in Burlington is today.”
He thinks that some members of the party aren’t “grounded in the reality of governance.” He specifically pointed to Progressive members’ support for a 30% reduction in police staffing levels, in response to nationwide calls to defund and reallocate money from police departments to other community services. He says an assessment analyzing the level of services police provide in Burlington should have preceded a vote on the resolution.
Clavelle said he doesn’t know Tracy very well, but he’s worked with Pine for over 30 years. He is not committing to either candidate, but Clavelle said he thinks Pine could be a unifying force for the party in this race.
“Brian has demonstrated his ability and willingness to collaborate,” Clavelle said. “And Max is a bit more hard-edge in his approach. He’s more of an ideologue.”
Sharon Bushor is a longtime council member who was defeated this past Town Meeting Day by Progressive newcomer Zoraya Hightower, after she lost Progressive backing as an independent. She also has concerns about the current makeup of the Progressive Party.
Bushor thinks the party lacks process and is uncollaborative in its approach. She also referred to the budget and staffing cuts for the police department — she thought Progressives had no tolerance for different opinions during that discussion.
Her concerns about the nature of the party stem from Tracy, who she said she liked working with during her time on the council. “Max is principled almost to a fault,” Bushor said.
“He forms an opinion and he sticks with it. And it’s good, because that’s predictable. But sometimes things change and you really need to kind of take into consideration what has evolved,” Bushor said.
“Brian has changed somewhat since I’ve known him,” she said. “He’s evolved with the Progressive Party and has taken on the positions of the party. Sometimes I’m surprised at that. I wish that he could offer some insights from his own experience that might help the Progressive Party have a more inclusive platform.”
New-age ‘youthful’ urgency
But not all veteran Progressives have a distaste for the way the party has evolved.
Gene Bergman, who was on the council from 1986 to 1992 and was the assistant city attorney and senior assistant city attorney from 1998 to 2018, said he’s “saddened” that some in his cohort resent the current party makeup.
He said the Progressive councilors he’s worked with are collaborative, thoughtful people who are working within the system to make change for the marginalized and working class.
“The work that’s being done on a host of things,” Bergman said, “are coming from a youthful, active impulse.”
He thinks there are strengths to Tracy’s firm moral compass and Pine’s reputation for building consensus. He doesn’t think either leadership strategy is necessarily better; each has its benefits. (Bergman hasn’t decided who he’s supporting.)
He thinks the primary difference between these two candidates is in their political backgrounds. “Max is significantly younger and is more informed by the anti-globalization movement,” Bergman said. “Then Brian is informed by the struggles in the 1980s, against Reagan. Both are legitimate.”
He said he wants to support a candidate who will inspire him and rally around the issues that people across the city care about, like fighting the basing of F-35 fighter jets at Burlington International Airport and the Champlain Parkway development project. He cautioned against the party putting forward a candidate who is palatable to gain votes, while sacrificing standing strong on issues that matter to Burlingtonians.
“Winning by moving to the center makes you indistinguishable with your opponent,” Bergman said. “Bernie Sanders has proven that doesn’t excite people.” Sanders’ political career began with an upset win in the 1981 Burlington mayoral race before he went on to Washington, D.C., where he’s a U.S. senator.
Bergman doesn’t agree with Pine’s strategy to hold back on Weinberger. “I think it is actually a lost opportunity to explain why we need a different approach,” Bergman said.
‘Bring their base with them’
Josh Wronski, chair of the Progressive Party, thinks it’s incorrect to assume that either Pine or Tracy wouldn’t be able to unify the city to claim the mayor’s office.
“They’ve both been pretty clear that they’re going to support the eventual winner of the caucus. And I think that’s really, really important because we haven’t always had that in the past,” Wronski said.
“I think they both have slightly different bases,” he added. “But that’s actually a benefit because … I think Brian or Max, whoever wins, are going to work really, really hard to make sure that they get elected and they’re going to bring their base with them.”
The idea that a passionate Progressive wouldn’t be able to unify the city doesn’t dissuade Wronski. He argued that the issues that matter to both Pine and Tracy — promoting affordable housing, weatherizing rental homes, and addressing the needs of working-class people — aren’t exclusive to Progressives.
During the era of Progressive Mayor Bob Kiss, who led the city from 2006 to 2012, the party took a hit from his leadership after the Burlington Telecom debacle. The city improperly used $17 million for the utility service. Seven Days summed up the controversy with this headline: “Has Bob Kiss Destroyed the Progressive Party?”
Wronski argues that the youth who are a key core to the party today revived it from that era and carried it to the majority it now has on the council — and that wave shouldn’t be underestimated in this mayoral election. He also thinks the party is more inclusive today than it was a decade ago due to the groundswell of support from new members.
Progressive Emma Mulvaney-Stanak, who recently knocked longtime incumbent Jean O’Sullivan out of her Vermont House seat, says Pine and Tracy have different priorities.
While the two candidates hold similar political views, Mulvaney-Stanak sees Tracy as a working person’s champion, given his background as a labor organizer, with an interest in sustainable transportation solutions. Pine will focus on progressive housing solutions, she says, because of his experience at CEDO where he largely worked on housing issues.
One central difference between the Burlington Progressive Party that exists today and the one of the ’80s and ’90s, from Mulvaney-Stanak’s perspective, is the difference in party urgency.
“Now, with Progressives today, they have different opinions and different approaches on what the role of government is,” she said. “Is there space for full dialogue to offer policy solutions to big problems like huge income inequality that’s worse today than it was 20 years ago?
“Some people have the opinion that incremental change and creating compromise in a moderate way is best,” she said. “Other people feel that frankly the planet is melting and people are suffering and perhaps we need to shorten the steps and move with bigger bolder steps.”
Tracy and Pine make their pitch
When reached by VTDigger to discuss his campaign, Pine shifted away from his neutral stance on Weinberger’s tenure as mayor.
“I believe the most effective way to be mayor of Burlington is to solicit feedback and input early in the process from a broader cross-section of the community,” Pine said. “And I do not believe Mayor Weinberger has done that.
“I believe he’s surrounded himself with people who largely support him and agree with him,” Pine said. “And I think the best way to move forward as an elected leader of a city is to actually bring in voices that can push you to rethink your approach.”
Asked why he hesitated to bring up these critiques before, Pine said he realized that time is running out before the election to make a case to Burlingtonians about why the city needs to change.
While Pine agreed he’s known in the city as a “bridge builder,” he also said he’s not afraid to be competitive. (Traits that were best shown during his stints coaching youth sports, he said.)
“I come with a competitive spirit,” Pine said, “but I respect the humanity of everybody who I deal with.”
Pine agrees that there’s not “a large amount of daylight” between him and Tracy on their Progressive values. What makes him different, he argues, is his experience in grassroots organizing and political collaboration in Burlington dating back to the ’80s and ’90s, from when he first arrived on the University of Vermont campus. Pine, 58, has worked for the city’s Community and Economic Development Office for 18 years.
“I’ve been actually in the trenches doing that work,” Pine said. “I’ve actually worked within city government. So I served on the council in the ’90s. I served under a Republican mayor (Peter Brownell). And I learned how to work across the aisle but also how to push back and how to fight against cuts the mayor was trying to make.”
Tracy said he thinks he and Pine differ most on priorities.
Tracy said he’s been leading Burlington’s conversations about sustainable transportation policies and bike infrastructure accessibility since he was elected in 2012. Tracy, 33, works as a field organizer for the Vermont Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals.
There have also been key differences in their voting records — Tracy opposed the renewed development agreement for the CityPlace mall project in 2018; Pine supported it. Tracy supported a 2019 resolution calling for the reduction of the police force, among other changes; Pine voted against. Pine later supported the 30% reduction in the city’s police force, passed at a June 2020 council meeting.
And then there are their leadership differences: “I think Brian is much more focused on achieving consensus,” Tracy said. “And I’m more of a harder-line Progressive.”
Tracy doesn’t think his aggressive leadership style would dissuade voters looking for a new direction. He thinks it will encourage them to support him and the clear vision he’s pitching to voters.
“I want to be honest with people about who I am,” Tracy said. “I don’t want to lead them that I have a vision and then not live up to that. So I feel like I need to be my authentic self.”
