By Michael Bielawski
A school board member from Waterbury is running as a Democrat in the two-seat Waterbury House seat, where both incumbents – who are also committee chairs – are seeking re-election.
Elizabeth Brown will face incumbents Tom Stevens and Theresa Wood.
This is the second part of a series to highlight House primary races this coming Aug. 13. (Read Part One here.) There was an unusually large wave of retirements this year, as the legislature faces just a 49% approval rating as of fall last year.
Here is the latest most updated list of total candidates as of Tuesday morning for all public offices that are up for election in the primary. It was last updated on Monday.
“A drama-free dress rehearsal”
The Times of Argus over the weekend observed that at least for much of central Vermont, truly contested seats during the primaries within each party are few and far between.
The TA wrote on Saturday, “With legislative redistricting now comfortably in central Vermont’s rear view mirror, and the churn associated with an unprecedented number of retiring lawmakers a memory, the August primaries will be drama-free dress rehearsals for almost all major party candidates running in the region.”
Franklin-5 (2 seats)
Rep. Lisa Hango, R-Berkshire, and Rep. Wayne Laroche, R-Franklin are running for reelection. Hango in 2021 called out her Statehouse colleagues for what she felt was an reactionary response to the J6 demonstrations. She called it, “reactionary, inflammatory and politically motivated.”
Franklin-7 (1 seat)
Rep. Allen “Penny” Demar, R-Enosburg Falls, is running as an incumbent for the Franklyn-7 district.
He will face in the general election Heather Moore of Enosburgh. Moore writes on her campaign page about her work experience, including she “co-created and edited a poetry journal for three years while I worked at the former Fletcher Allen Health Care as a secretary for the inpatient psychiatry unit and as a chocolatier on Church Street in Burlington. However, I eventually found my true calling, and I left Chittenden County to run an afterschool program in Swanton.”
Franklin-8 (1 seat)
Rep. Casey J. Toof, R – St. Albans Town, is running as an incumbent for the Franklin-8 district. Zach Scheffler, Chair of the Franklin County Democrats, will be Toof’s competition in the general election.
Scheffler was instrumental in politically attacking on Facebook the career of Franklin County Sheriff John Grismore, who was accused of using violence while using a trained technique to sit an unstable man down.
Orange-1 (1-seat)
Former Republican candidate for Attorney General Republican Michael Tagliavia from Corinth is running for the Orange-1 district seat. He will run in the general election against former representative Carl Demrow of Corinth.
Demrow writes on his campaign website, “I am a carpenter and construction worker, but have also taught high school, worked as a volunteer firefighter, worked for non-profits, and I co-founded and chaired the Orange County Headwaters Project, which worked successfully to conserve over 5000 acres of land in Washington and Corinth, the towns I have called home for 21 years.”
Windsor-3 (2 seats)
Judith Stern of North Springfield is running as a Republican for the Windsor-3 district. She is an emerita professor of OB-GYN at Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College.
She’s written a commentary on late-term abortions. She has a Facebook page from a past campaign here. She wrote in one post, “As I’ve stated Vermont ranks in the top five in overall taxes, cost of living in relation to wages, and the cost per student in relation to wages. There are many more examples such as the high cost of housing rentals in relation to wages.”
Stern is running against two Democrats. They are incumbent Rep. Alice Emmons, D-Springfield, and Rep. Kristi Morris, D-Springfield.
Windham-3 (2 seats)
Ryan Coyne of Rockingham is running as a Republican in the Windham-3 district. In 2022, Coyne ran as an independent. Rep. Michelle Bos-Lun, D-Westminster, is the incumbent.
An interview with Coyne from three years ago can be seen here. He was in the Navy reserves for at least eight years as of the interview, and he said he comes from a family that believes in public service and he mentioned that his mother was a nurse and his father was in the Marines.
Windham-1 (1 seat)
Nancy Gassett of Vernon is running as a Republican in the Windham-1 district. In 2022, Gassett shared concerns about the integrity of elections when mailing them to every name on the voter check-lists.
“Vermont Town Clerks used to have control of the general election ballots mailing some to those requesting absentee ballots and military ballots. The majority of ballots were held by town clerks for use by voters in individual cities and towns as they came out to their polling places on Election Day to cast their votes,” she wrote on a campaign website from her previous attempt at running for a seat.
She is running against Jason Herron of Guilford for the Democrats. Herron was recently involved in a court dispute with the Guilford Selectboard concerning an alleged open-meeting law violation.
Washington-Chittenden (2 seats)
Jonathan Griffin of Waterbury is the project manager for the Vermont Transportation Agency. He is running as a Republican for the Washington-Chittenden district.
Elizabeth Brown of Waterbury is running as a Democrat against two Democrat incumbents, both committee chairs: Theresa Wood (Human Services) and Thomas Stevens (General). She wrote on her campaign website about her experience. She wrote, “After departing my finance career at the end of 2023, I began to explore opportunities to increase my community involvement including volunteering with the Crossett Brook Middle School winter program and being appointed to the HUUSD School Board.”
Windsor 2 (1 seat)
V.L. Coffin of Cavendish is running as a Republican. Rep. Mark Yuengling, D-Weathersfield, is the incumbent.
Windham-Windsor-Bennington (1 seat)
Janet “Jan” Payne of Andover is running for the Windham-Windsor-Bennington seat as a Republican. She is so far the only declared candidate from any party running for the seat.
Windham-8 (1 seat)
William Harvey of Brattleboro is running as a Republican for the Windham-8 district. He is running against incumbent Rep. Mollie S. Burke, P/D-Brattleboro.
Franklin-6 (1 seat)
Rep. James Gregoire, R-Fairfield, is running as an incumbent for the Franklin-6 district. There are currently no challenges from any party for this seat.
The author is a writer for the Vermont Daily Chronicle