Updated Wednesday at 12:03 a.m.
BURLINGTON — Progressives maintained their six-seat plurality on the Burlington City Council in voting Tuesday. Candidates allied with the party beat out challengers for three council seats, and sailed to an uncontested victory for a fourth.
While the Progressives losing even one seat would have given Democratic Mayor Miro Weinberger a wide berth to carry out his agenda on issues from policing to housing, the party put up decisive victories in all its races.
In the Ward 1 contest, where the issue of policing took center stage, Progressive Zoraya Hightower beat Democratic challenger Rob Gutman with 56% of the vote.
A Gutman win would have offered Democrats the opportunity to permanently appoint acting Police Chief Jon Murad to his role, a message that Gutman highlighted to Ward 1 voters.
Yet Hightower’s success is by no means a full-on embrace of the city’s most hardline Progressive values. The nonprofit director has billed herself as a compromiser who seeks to collaborate with council Democrats on contentious issues.
In Ward 8, Progressive Ali House took the open seat left by Progressive Councilor Jane Stromberg with 54% support, beating fellow University of Vermont senior and Democrat Hannah King.
In the New North End’s Ward 7, unofficial tallies showed independent incumbent Ali Dieng barely fending off a challenge by Democrat Aleczander Stith in a three-way race.
Dieng, who has sometimes pushed Progressive-backed policies to majority approval, received 795 votes to Stith’s 793 (both 45% of the total count), with Progressive-backed independent Olivia Taylor notching 89 votes for 5%.
Yet those results could change. Stith told VTDigger Tuesday night that he plans to ask for a recount by hand in that contest.
“I think anybody in my position would ask for a recount,” he said, adding that he was “pleased with where we’re at.”
Democrat Ben Traverse seized an open seat that previously belonged to Democratic Councilor Chip Mason in the South End precinct of Ward 5. Traverse grabbed 78% of the vote, beating independents FaReid Munarsyah and Lenora Travis, who received 17% and 5%, respectively.
Progressive Joe Magee comfortably won reelection against Republican Christopher-Aaron Felker in Ward 3, with 72% of the vote.
With no opponents, Democrats Sarah Carpenter and Karen Paul won landslide reelection victories in Wards 4 and 6, respectively. Progressive Gene Bergman also won an uncontested race in Ward 2.
The election outcome gives Democratic Mayor Miro Weinberger little chance to renominate Murad as permanent head of the city’s police force.
The council’s Progressives blocked Murad’s appointment in late January when Weinberger first nominated him, and the caucus’s two newcomers — House and Bergman — have vowed to join their previously serving counterparts.
Weinberger said Tuesday night, as he had before, that he will continue to allow Murad to serve as acting police chief indefinitely, even though he espoused the importance of having a permanent chief before and during Murad’s nomination process.
When pressed by VTDigger, Weinberger defended his decision to not make a second attempt at nominating a permanent police chief.
“If we're going to have an obstructionist council that is not going to appoint the only qualified candidate that comes through a nine-month process, then we will have the next best thing, which is a commitment from me to work with the chief and focus on addressing our very serious public safety challenges head on,” he said.
Even with the same balance of power, the City Council is losing its current president, Max Tracy of Ward 2, after he decided not to seek a sixth term.
While no councilor-elect has spoken out about their interest in the role, some observers see Paul — a more seasoned councilor and close to the body’s ideological center — as a prime candidate.
At a post-election gathering for Democrats, Paul declined to tell VTDigger whether she’s interested in vying for the position, saying she wanted to focus on celebrating the party’s victories.
“That’s all I’m really focused on,” she said.
