Updated at 6:59 p.m.
BURLINGTON — Joan Shannon, a longtime city councilor, is the Democratic candidate for Burlington mayor.
Shannon won the party’s nomination with 50.7% of the vote Sunday night, narrowly avoiding the need for a runoff. She received 1,689 votes, while opponents Karen Paul and CD Mattison received 1,173 and 471 votes, respectively.
Burlington Democrats held their nominating caucus largely virtually, with candidates, party officials and a small crowd gathering at Edmunds Middle School. A record total of 3,676 people registered to participate, according to Burlington Democratic Party chair Adam Roof, and 3,333 people cast votes for mayor.
Shannon, a South End resident and a realtor, has served on the City Council for 20 years, including a three-year stint as its president.
She will face off against state Rep. Emma Mulvaney-Stanak, who won the Progressive nomination in an uncontested race last week, on Town Meeting Day in March. Independent candidates or a Republican could still enter the race.
Mayor Miro Weinberger, a Democrat who has led the city since 2012, chose not to run again this fall.
Speaking to reporters after the caucus results were announced, Shannon said she was “honored” and impressed by the high turnout. She said that sometimes political parties fear that “people will kind of tear each other apart” at contested caucuses, but she thought the competition was healthy.
Shannon, who also faced a challenge for the Democratic nomination in her council race last year, said candidates emerge “stronger than they would have had there not been a caucus. So I welcome that challenge and competition.”
The record turnout, she said, could be beneficial as her campaign shifts to the next phase.
“I do think that Burlington has always been kind of a grassroots campaign community and the team that we have built going into this caucus is going to be powerful,” she said.
Much of the public discourse surrounding the mayoral race has centered on public safety issues. And in her speech to caucus participants ahead of the vote Sunday, Shannon again returned to the theme.
“We need courage and leadership to make hard decisions on the path to restore what we all know Burlington can and should be,” said Shannon, who received endorsements from the Burlington Police Officers’ Association and the Burlington Firefighters Association ahead of Sunday’s caucus.
Shannon has put forth a public safety plan, which she said emphasizes “both accountability and care” and includes four “pillars”: deterrence and prevention, treatment, housing and justice.
During her campaign, the South End councilor called attention to a June 2020 vote, when she was one of three councilors to oppose a measure that capped the Burlington Police Department’s ranks at 79. Paul and eight other Democrats and Progressives voted to approve the cap.
“There isn’t anybody else in the race who has both voted consistently in favor of supporting our police department and actively worked and spoken against the defunding effort,” Shannon told VTDigger in an interview late last month.
In an emailed statement after the vote Sunday, Mattison said she was grateful for the opportunity to speak with voters. “Tonight, I go from candidate to voter. I will do the same thing every voter does: I will listen to all sides, ask questions, do my research, and make a decision that aligns with my values,” she wrote.
Paul’s campaign manager, Nick Charyk, said in a text message following the results that Paul had called Shannon to congratulate her but would not be providing a statement on Sunday.
In an emailed statement, Mulvaney-Stanak congratulated Shannon and said she looked forward to the campaign.
“In March, voters will have the opportunity to decide whether the strategies of the past decade will get us where we need to go, or whether we need a new vision for Burlington,” she wrote.
In addition to the mayoral race, Democrats also picked seven candidates for eight City Council seats. No one came forward to challenge Progressive incumbent Gene Bergman in Ward 2.
Two of the council nominations were contested — in Ward 6, Becca Brown McKnight defeated Romeo von Hermann, 375-209, to run for the seat being vacated by Paul. In Ward 7, Evan Litwin won over Lee Morrigan, 288-133. Morrigan, who secured the Progressive nomination last week, had been seeking both parties’ endorsements for the seat, which independent Ali Dieng is vacating.
In Ward 1, where Progressive Zoraya Hightower is stepping down, Democrat Geoff Hand will face Progressive Carter Neubieser. In Ward 3, Malik Mines will run against Progressive Joe Kane to fill outgoing Progressive Joe Magee’s seat.
Democratic councilors Sarah Carpenter and Ben Traverse were nominated to run again in Wards 4 and 5, respectively. They do not yet face opposition. And in Ward 8, incumbent Democrat Hannah King will face Progressive Marek Broderick.
Town Meeting Day will take place on March 5, 2024.
