With six weeks to go until the March 1 election, the races for eight of Burlington’s 12 City Council seats are taking shape.
Each of three major parties has now held a caucus to nominate candidates, and while none has nominated a contender for all eight seats, five wards are poised for a contested election.
With three incumbents not seeking reelection, Democrat and Progressive organizers see this year’s election as a big opportunity to pick up seats for their party. While Progressives have not seen a Democratic challenge to the Ward 2 seat of outgoing Progressive Council President Max Tracy, Wards 5 and 8 are set up for some Democrat-Progressive dueling.
In Ward 8, Democrat Hannah King has announced her intentions to succeed Jane Stromberg. She would face Ali House, who’s running to hold down the spot for Progressives. Both are University of Vermont seniors who have made housing and climate issues top priorities for their campaigns.
In Ward 5, the departure of Democrat Chip Mason has opened the door for a contest between Progressive FaReid Munarsyah, an activist who runs a nonprofit called The People’s Kitchen, and Democrat Ben Traverse, chair of the city’s Parks, Recreation & Waterfront Commission.
Munarsyah and Traverse have already made housing a focus of their campaigns, though the issue takes on a special significance in Ward 5, where the city cleared an encampment of people without permanent housing last year. While both candidates agree that the city needs more long-term housing, they are split on whether the Sears Lane camp should have been dispersed.
Munarsyah has blasted the city’s decision to raze the camp and regularly served food to its residents while they were still living there.
“Sears Lane laid bare the contradictions between the values Burlington claims to share as a community against the reality of how decisions are actually made,” Munarsyah told those at the Progressives’ virtual caucus Tuesday night.
Traverse, meanwhile, said the decision to remove residents eventually would have been necessary and kept them from living in unsafe conditions.
“If we allow the community to stay there, ultimately, it’s going to wind up in the same place again,” Traverse told VTDigger in December.
Three candidates are slated to vie for the New North End seat of Ward 7. The candidates all claim they are independent and say they want to make Burlington a more affordable place to live.
Incumbent Ali Dieng, who at times has sided with both the council’s most liberal and conservative members, said his relationship with voters in Ward 7 gives him the best understanding of the precinct’s needs and desires.
But Aleczander Stith, who sought and received nominations from the Democratic and Republican parties, said Dieng has not kept the council focused on local issues. In particular, Stith called out Dieng’s decision to add to the agenda, and then withdraw, a resolution endorsing a boycott on the country of Israel.
“That was a shining star example of something that was divisive and not a local issue,” Stith said.
An engineer, Stith said he bought a home in Ward 7 in 2019 after renting an apartment in the Old North End for a decade. Broadly speaking, he supports Democratic Mayor Miro Weinberger’s plan to relax zoning rules and increase housing stock in the city, a move that Stith said would make buying a home more affordable.
Olivia Taylor, the third Ward 7 candidate, also moved to the precinct in 2019. As she sought the Progressive nomination Tuesday night, the consultant laid out her stance on larger issues, such as giving tax credits to landlords who rent their apartments out long term, and smaller ones, such as creating off-leash zones for dog owners in the city’s parks.
In Ward 1, Progressive incumbent Zoraya Hightower plans to seek a second term against Democrat Rob Gutman.
Hightower led the way on a 2020 resolution reducing the number of police officers Burlington could hire by 30%, though she later joined Democrats in voting to raise that number after a city-commissioned report recommended the move.
Though no Democrats are running in Ward 3, Progressive incumbent Joe Magee will get a rematch of the special election that elevated them to the council in August, when they face off against Republican nominee Christopher-Aaron Felker.
Felker, who also serves as the party’s Burlington chair, frequently appears at public forums during council meetings to criticize Progressive resolutions. He also defiantly opposed the city’s reinstatement of a mask mandate in December.
Wards 2, 4 and 6 all have candidates running unopposed. In Ward 2, former Councilor and Bernie Sanders-era Progressive Gene Bergman is looking to replace Tracy, while Democrats Sarah Carpenter and Karen Paul are seeking reelection in Wards 4 and 6, respectively.
The registration deadline for any additional candidates who wish to appear on the ballot is Jan. 24.
