Former U.S. Army officer, former Colchester grocery store owner, and bluegrass musician to run
By Guy Page
Three Vermonters have recently declared as candidates for the Vermont Senate. Two of them hope to replace retiring, longtime senators. One is facing a primary.
Democrat Joe Major of Hartford (WRJ) plans to run for a Windsor County senate seat. Sen. Dick McCormick has announced he will not seek re-election.
Major has led the Upper Valley Aquatic Center since 2018. He became the part-time Town Treasurer in 2022 and was elected to selectboard in 2020. He graduated with a BA in Broadcast Journalism from Howard University in 1987 and is a former U.S. Army officer.
Rep. Pat Brennan (R-Colchester) Representative on Tuesday announced a run for the Colchester-Grand Isle senate seat held for 39 years by Dick Mazza until his retirement earlier this month.
“Having served 11 terms as one of Colchester’s state representatives, it would be an honor to broaden my service to Vermonters and the constituency of Grand Isle County. With Sen. Mazza’s departure, Grand Isle County will need strong, common sense leadership, and the respect of one’s peers in Montpelier as well as at home in the district,” Brennan said.
“All of these traits and more are characteristics possessed by Sen. Mazza. I can promise you to carry on his legacy to the best of my ability,” Brennan said.
Like Mazza, Brennan operated a Colchester grocery store and chaired the (House) Transportation Committee.
Brennan was born in Burlington and became a Colchester resident in 1985. He was educated at Rice Memorial High School. He has served in the Legislature since 2003, where he is known for his leadership on gun rights and sportsmen issues and his savvy knowledge of state taxation and budgeting.
Rep. Caleb Elder (D-Starksboro) will likely face a Democratic primary race with incumbent senators Ruth Hardy and Chris Bray. If so, it’s not the first time Elder has challenged Democratic leadership. Last year he led a mini-insurrection demanding the Housing and General Affairs Committee of which he was a member get a shot at reforming Act 250 to promote more housing. The uprising was unsuccessful, but made waves inside and outside the State House.
Elder grew up in Bristol. He is a board member for the Mount Abraham Unified School District. Now in his second legislative term, Caleb is a member of the House Ways and Means Committee. He is an accomplished bluegrass musician and owner of a small renewable power business.
Categories: politics
As usual, it appears that the VT GOP is apparently doing a bang-up job in recruiting, funding, and promoting a host of republican candidates to serve the people.
The VT GOP cannot force people to run. People need to step up.
And they’ve alienated at least a third of their base.
your gun rights will not mean any thing if you took the covid kill shot and are now dead////
Mday44:
That is a pretty small number compared with the number of Vermonters who to died from the Covid infection.
Good luck Rep. Brennan ! We need a lot more Republicans like you, in the Senate . (and the House!)
I live in Addison County and we need to retire Senator Chris Bray.
Bray wrote the Clean Heat Standard. It is designed to raise heating fuel costs to force us 70% of Vermonters to switch to pellet stoves and heat pumps so that Vermont will be in compliance with the Global Warming Solutions Act that Bray pushed through his Energy Committee.
Rep. Caleb Elder would be a welcome addition to the whole sorts of questions we Vermonters must have answered, soon. World oil price is fast raising oil product prices. We cannot afford to let the S.5 law be enacted.
A smarter choice is to expand the already well organized State O.E.O. Weatherization Assistance Program. It projects weatherizing 1,500 homes this year. By raising the current fuel fee from 2 cents per gallon to 4, then 6 cents, WAP could weatherize twice or three times as many homes and adding 2 or 3 times WAPs workforce.
He has a solid grounding in energy matters that deserve a lot more attention. We cann’t afford S.5. We can accept 4 to 6 cents added to our gallon of heating oil costs because it will be making LIHEAP and lower middle income homes healthier, more comfortable and safe. Those are worthy goals we can afford in this hurtful economy. And, we’ll be contributing to building out Vermont’s technical skilled workforce.
I’m going to have this conversation with Caleb and ask if he also sees the mess we are in as inflation keeps eating us alive.
Elder voted for the Global Warming Solutions Act and the Clean Heat Standard. Here he is advocating for a bill that will remove local control/objections to renewable energy projects — something that would benefit himself financially. https://youtu.be/3gyQ98BkYTg.
Elect a Republican in Addison County this November. Make it two.
just Rember the tax increase will not go away next year or ever it will be here forever.
the people in vermont did not die of the covid infection/// most had a bad flue and many other health problems/// the covid test was a complete fraud and they died from hospital malpractice/// hospitals made millions of dollars off the scam demic/// do your research, it all has been proven/// pete g. ////
Sadly, I lack an epidemiology lab in which to conduct such research. May I ask which such lab you used to conduct yours?
j. m. ///my light bill is high enough and i do not need to insulate other peoples houses and pay their light bill
mday,
I get it about the cost of electricity. If you want to know anything about electricity ask a wires guy or read what the electrical engineers are saying about the mismatch of present-day power supply and the anticipated huge increase in demand to power Vermont’s electrification. We’re in for a heap of hurt when demand exceeds supply and we import from anywhere and pay their rates. We can, at least, demand the PUC shut down the study of the Clean Heat Act and then concentrate on the grid expansion to adapt to the new power and fuel markets They are inflation engines. Without out it, we’ll be running our generators often.
solar panels, transmission, storage and subsidizing the purchase of EVs, heat pumps and hot water heat pumps
Pat Brennan Get-R-Done Patriot Get-R-Done 👍🇺🇸🗽🇺🇸👍
when you here a person running for public office and they tell you/// number one/// i will not raise your taxes/// number two/// i will create thousands of jobs//// number three// i will not infringe on your constitutional rights/// number four/// i will be at the state house from morning until night//// number five//// i will bring transparency//// number six/// i will earn your trust/// now how could you not vote for this person/// the problem is they all say that and it never comes true////////
correction//// hear //