Vermont’s Progressive and Democratic parties have each sent Gov. Phil Scott a list of candidates to fill the seat vacated by former state Rep. Emma Mulvaney-Stanak, who was sworn in as Burlington’s mayor earlier this month.
Jason Maulucci, Scott’s press secretary, said that interviews have already begun and will conclude next week. “Our goal is to fill the seat before the end of the session,” he said.
Scott will likely pick a replacement for Mulvaney-Stanak, who was first elected to the House in 2020 as a Progressive-Democrat, from among the two lists.
In a press release Friday, Progressives announced they had nominated three candidates for the vacant seat: Missa Aloisi, Monika Ivancic and Stuart Weiss.
Aloisi is an architect and owner of the Burlington-based architectural firm Hinge. Ivancic works at the University of Vermont’s Department of Chemistry and serves on the Burlington school board. Weiss works in education and previously served as the director of learning in the South Burlington School District.
Barb Prine, the chair of the Chittenden 17 Progressive District Committee, said that she hoped Scott “will move quickly to appoint one of the three Progressives so that Chittenden 17 voters have representation as the Legislature moves through the final weeks of the session.”
The Vermont Democratic Party has put forth three candidates as well, according to its executive director, Jim Dandeneau.
The party’s picks are Burlington City Councilor Sarah Carpenter; Abbey Duke, the founder and CEO of the South Burlington-based catering company Sugarsnap; and Tim George, a co-managing partner at Ascend Group, an accounting and management consulting firm.
“We felt like at this stage of the legislative session it was important for the people to have a voice in budget negotiations, in conversations around school funding, climate change and overdose protection sites, so we wanted to make sure the governor had everything as quickly as possible,” Dandeneau said in an interview.
Mulvaney-Stanak announced she would resign as a state representative about three weeks after winning the Burlington mayoral election.
She had previously been weighing whether she could serve in both the Statehouse and in City Hall until the end of the legislative session but later said she chose to step down so she could “effectively serve the city.”
In her second term representing the Chittenden-17 district, she chaired the House Progressive Caucus and sat on the chamber’s Committee on Commerce and Economic Development.
