Updated at 8:53 p.m.
Winooski voters elected a slate of city councilors Tuesday who are all openly LGBTQ+ — a first for Vermont and likely one of the first such instances in the U.S.
Voters reelected incumbent councilor Bryn Oakleaf, who is queer, with 649 votes, according to unofficial results on the city’s website. They also elected Charles Judge, who is transgender and was seeking an open council seat, with 578 votes. Both candidates ran unopposed, and there were 35 votes for write-in candidates, according to the results Tuesday night.
Oakleaf and Judge will join two other councilors who are also openly LGBTQ+, neither of whom were up for reelection this year: Thomas Renner, who is gay, and Aurora Hurd, who is bisexual, nonbinary and transgender.
Winooski Mayor Kristine Lott, who is also a member of the City Council, does not identify as LGBTQ+.
In 2017, the city of Palm Springs, California, elected the first entirely openly LGBTQ+ city council in the country. State Rep. Taylor Small, P/D-Winooski, who is transgender, has said that she does not know of any other U.S. city that has done the same since.
“I’m elated,” Judge said Tuesday night after the results were released. “It means so much to represent the transmasculine community and the queer community as a whole. I just feel really honored.”
Winooski is Vermont’s most racially diverse city, and Oakleaf has said she hoped the election would bolster its reputation as one of the state’s most progressive, too.
“It’s pretty remarkable to be part of some groundbreaking history in Vermont,” Oakleaf said Tuesday night. “I really hope it encourages anyone that wants to pursue office themselves to just go for it.”
Down the ballot, Winooski voters also gave preliminary approval to a charter change prohibiting “no cause” evictions in the city. The measure, which passed 566-208, would limit the circumstances under which a landlord could legally remove tenants from their homes. Because of a procedural hiccup, though, Onion City voters will need to weigh in on the measure again at a later date, which the city hasn’t yet settled on.
The measure then would need approval from the Legislature and Republican Gov. Phil Scott, who vetoed a similar charter change last year in neighboring Burlington.
Winooski voters on Tuesday also approved the city government’s roughly $9.5 million budget for fiscal year 2024, with 588 votes to 220. They also passed the Winooski School District’s roughly $25.5 million budget for fiscal year 2024, 597-224.
