Two Burlington City Council incumbents, Progressive Perri Freeman and Democrat Joan Shannon, have won reelection, and North District voters backed a new councilor, independent Mark Barlow.
Freeman got 1,935 votes from Central District voters, finishing ahead of independent challengers Tiki Archambeau, 1,131 votes, and Peggy Luhrs, 194 votes.
Shannon received 2,529 votes in the South District, outdistancing independent challenger Grace Ahmed, who received 1,272 votes.
The North District was an open seat — Barlow secured 2,306 votes compared to independent challenger Kienan Christianson’s 2,150 votes.
Progressive City Councilor Jack Hanson also won reelection; he ran unopposed for the East District seat.
This is the second time Christianson has lost a race for the North District City Council seat. In 2019, he ran as an independent with Progressive backing but lost to Democrat Franklin Paulino, who chose to not run for reelection this year.
Christianson entered the North District race with two party nominations, presenting himself to voters as a Democrat/Progressive. He was the more progressive candidate in the race; Barlow is an independent, but aligns with Democrats. Progressives hoped to capture the open seat, but the North District stuck with its historically more-conservative history.
Christianson’s dual party affiliation has caused some confusion and pushback among voters. Christianson was criticized at a city council debate for blocking Kerin Durfee, a Black woman who sits on the citizen oversight police commission, from gaining the Democratic nomination when the Progressives had already endorsed Christianson.
Christianson has said he planned to bring his perspective as a gay man to the council. He said he pursued both parties’ nominations and presented himself as a “fusion candidate” to help unify the council, although he said he would most likely caucus with the Democrats.
Barlow has said he represented a more traditional Democratic perspective in the race. He ran as an independent but said that, if elected, he would align with the Democrats. He disagreed with Christianson on the just-cause eviction ballot item — Barlow thought the measure was flawed; Christianson saw it as needed protection for renters.Â
Barlow said he was “gratified” by the win. He said the race was close and shows that the New North End, like other parts of the city, are facing some division.
“I’ll look for opportunities to try to build some bridges and close ranks a little bit,” Barlow said.
Freeman faced strong opposition from Archambeau, a former Burlington Progressive Party chair who became disillusioned with the swift decision-making style of the new wave of Progressives. He has criticized Freeman’s push to cut the Burlington Police Department by 30% without more planning.
But Freeman’s reelection indicates voters were swayed by their support of marginalized communities in the city. Activists praised the work of Freeman who sought to create an independent police oversight board with disciplinary and investigatory power — a concept ultimately vetoed by the mayor.
Addressing supporters in a Progressive Party Facebook live feed, Freeman became emotional in remarks to voters and celebrated the approval of the just cause charter change ballot question.
“I’m just so proud of us,” Freeman said. “And I think we’re going to be able to do incredible work going forward.”
When reached by VTDigger Tuesday evening, Archambeau said he wasn’t entirely surprised by the results. He said that running against an incumbent is a difficult challenge.
“Clearly the progressive brand is a strong one in the central district,” Archambeau said. “And even despite my own Progressive credentials, running as an independent was not enough to convince voters that that was enough of a Progressive brand.”
Also running against Freeman was Luhrs, a lesbian feminist activist in Burlington who has been criticized by the LGBTQ community for her anti-transgender feminist ideology.
This is Shannon’s eighth successful bid for reelection. She’s sat on the South District council seat since 2003.
While Ahmed challenged Shannon as an independent, she aimed to bring more of a Progressive vision to the council. She previously told VTDigger she wanted to represent “regular people” who are low-income and renters.
She clashed with Shannon on policing and just-cause evictions. The latter was a ballot item that would protect renters from eviction without cause. Voters approved the ballot measure Tuesday. Ahmed supported the ballot item and the police staffing cuts — both policies that Shannon has opposed.
Ahmed also addressed supporters on the Progressive Party’s livestream. She said her campaign is now focused on an effort she’s calling proposition zero — a mechanism that would allow voters to bring questions directly to the ballot, instead of going through the city council approval process.
“It’s not just about getting Councilor Shannon off of City Council, but really doing the work to change some of the structures of governance overall,” Ahmed said.
Shannon said she’s “really grateful” for all of the support she saw from voters throughout her campaign. She felt that as pressure increased from the Progressive Party to remove her from the council her own supporters pushed back and increased turnout.
“I speak out for what I believe in. That speaking out, obviously irritates people when they don’t agree with me,” Shannon said. “I try to be accountable to my voters.”
Clarification: This story has been updated to more precisely describe North District independent Mark Barlow’s plans in working with fellow council members. He had said that, if elected, he would align with the Democrats.