For voters considering the six Democrats vying for three Windsor County Senate seats, the similarities between the candidates far outweigh the differences.
That’s apparent to one of the incumbents, Democratic Sen. Becca White, who’s seeking a third term in office.
“There aren’t too many glaring differences between any of the candidates on policy,” she said in an interview.
Contenders are instead looking to professional experience and personal disposition — as well as more minute policy differences — to differentiate themselves.
“I think it makes the conversation richer,” White said of the packed primary. She said it’s forcing candidates to have more nuanced policy discussions — and focus on specific topics — early in the race.
Longtime lawmaker Sen. Alison Clarkson, D-Windsor, announced earlier this year she wouldn’t seek reelection, setting off the competitive battle to replace her.
In addition to White, fellow incumbent Sen. Joe Major, D-Windsor, hopes to win a second term in office.
Joining the incumbents are Ben Brickner, a Pomfret lawyer and the town’s Selectboard chair; current Rep. Elizabeth Burrows, D-West Windsor; Heather Chase, a nurse and former Democratic House member from Chester; and Chris Dube, a Hartford firefighter and labor organizer with lobbying experience in Montpelier.
On the issues
Healthcare, housing, education and concerns about how to balance rural landowners’ autonomy with environmental conservation have been key issues in the race, as they have in other pockets of Vermont.
But each candidate has expressed their strengths and priorities differently.
As the Senate’s Democratic whip, White has been outspoken in Montpelier on progressive causes such as environmental protection, transportation funding and reducing income inequality.
She favors a wealth tax and higher property taxes for second-home owners. Still, she sees her biggest strength as a senator as her responsiveness to constituents. She’s constantly fielding emails and looking for ways to help people get a DMV appointment, enroll in Dr. Dynasaur or find the other resources they need, she said.
For Major, healthcare is the root from which all other affordability issues stem.
“This is the No. 1 thing that can affect people’s pocketbooks, and then affect every other part of their lives,” he said on bringing down healthcare costs. Tackling that cost, he said, can reduce what towns need to pay for teachers’ health insurance, which in turn can keep property taxes and housing costs lower.
It’s a sentiment a number of his fellow candidates share.
He’s also a staunch proponent of converting the long-shuttered Windsor prison into housing, citing the nearly $250,000 it costs the state to maintain the vacant facility.
“Everyone has talked about and around it, but we need some action,” he said. He’s begun convening a collection of “stakeholders” to work toward that goal, he said.
According to Chase, economic development is the essential throughline to understand Vermont’s other issues: More economic drivers can attract young families and help people afford to live here.
“For the state of Vermont to have access to better education, we need to somehow recruit better businesses and more young families,” she said. “And the numbers show that if we just keep the people here, it’s not going to be enough. We need to have vibrant little towns and not just Burlington.”
She toggles between feeling “dug in” on issues dear to her — including access to reproductive healthcare and preventing federal immigration agents from wearing masks — while keeping an open-mindedness on less-familiar issues. Her 40 years of experience as a nurse has shaped her approach to problem solving, she said.
Burrows, the current West Windsor state representative, sees herself as the policy wonk’s candidate. “I’m a nerd, and I take time to really understand the issues,” she said.
On healthcare, she is a proponent of universal mobile primary care clinics, inspired by a successful program in Costa Rica. She thinks it could yield cost savings for the state, if clinics can see patients early and engage them in preventative care.
Her time on the House’s housing committee, her local school board and the local aging-in-place board have honed her view on the state’s housing and education needs. Specifically, she said building more transitional and senior housing would free up housing stock for others.
In Pomfret, Brickner has seen how the state is “functionally subsidizing and incentivizing second-home ownership at a time when we desperately need housing for full-time Vermonters,” he said. He hopes to introduce tax measures that can limit that trend.
Brickner thinks his experience in local government will help his policymaking.
“We just see this over and over and over again, where the legislators in Montpelier fail to appreciate how their laws impact small towns,” he said.
Affordability, he said, is his No. 1 issue.
“There’s a general anxiety among voters who have lived here, either for a few years or for generations. They feel like, though they love living here, and Vermont is their home, they are worried that they are no longer able to make ends meet,” he said.
His campaign has raised a hefty sum for a Vermont state Senate race. Brickner’s July 1 finance report shows that he has brought in more than $64,000 in donations. The next highest is Chase with over $24,000; the remaining four candidates have each brought in under $7,000.
Dube sees himself as a candidate who brings the perspective of working Vermonters. As the president of Vermont’s professional firefighters union, he has a lobbyist’s view of Montpelier from the hours he’s spent there advocating for labor protections.
Working in emergency response, he’s also seen how housing insecurity and the opioid epidemic have harmed constituents.
He’s passionate about using state dollars to fund problems that need it — whether it’s resources for people to find a path out of poverty or fair wages for public school teachers — but wants more fiscal accountability, he said. “I don’t mind spending a million dollars on a program, but if your payback on it is not there, you’re doing a disservice to the people that you represent,” Dube said.
