BRATTLEBORO — After a summerlong debate over tax priorities, Democrat Rep. Emilie Kornheiser, chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, won a primary challenge Tuesday for her Windham-7 district seat.
Kornheiser, a 45-year-old social service specialist, bested Amanda Ellis-Thurber, a 52-year-old farmer, by a vote of 505 to 369, according to unofficial town clerk results.
“If I win in November,” Kornheiser said of the primary results, “I’m looking forward to doing the hard work of reforming our education finance system, making sure that Vermonters have affordable, accessible health care, and solving the housing crisis.”
Kornheiser will face Republican Susan Murray in the Nov. 5 general election.
Kornheiser made national news in January when she introduced bills to impose new “wealth taxes” on Vermonters with the highest incomes and assets. A month later, she sparked more headlines by pushing to repeal a state cap on the rate of increase for education property taxes, all in an effort to curb unexpectedly costly ramifications just weeks before March school budget votes.
The combined actions prodded Ellis-Thurber, part of the third generation of family to raise dairy cows and organic crops at the nearly century-old Lilac Ridge Farm, to enter the primary.
“Friends and neighbors have been telling me they’re really nervous about provocative legislation and property tax increases,” Ellis-Thurber told VTDigger.
Kornheiser first won her seat as a political newcomer in 2018 when she challenged then Rep. Valerie Stuart, a four-term Democratic incumbent.
“People want to feel their quality of life is improving,” Kornheiser told the press six years ago. “I want to move from Band-Aids to systemic solutions.”
Kornheiser had hoped to do so upon her 2023 appointment as chair of the House’s tax-writing committee. But when 2022’s Act 127, which sought to improve student equity by adjusting the state funding formula for schools, resulted in higher spending and a nearly 20% projected spike in average tax bills, she had to push for the adoption of a different, untested formula just before this past March Town Meeting season.
Despite that adjustment, almost a third of Vermont school districts went on to reject initial budgets for this fall, with Barre still without an approved plan as residents prepare for a fourth vote Sept. 17, according to the Vermont Superintendents Association.
Kornheiser has apologized for the last-minute nature of what she considers necessary shifts but has continued to call for more tax changes to target the highest earners.
Ellis-Thurber, a presidential appointment during the Obama Administration to Vermont’s 10-member USDA Farm Service Agency board, countered by campaigning for “a pragmatic fiscal approach” centered on creating more jobs and businesses.
“A race well run, whether I win or lose, and the connection that I’ve been able to have with our community is a gift in itself,” Ellis-Thurber said of Tuesday’s results.
