Stepping into the Fray: A new generation of Vermonters run for state office
“How’ve you been?” is an unusually complicated question these days. But I was so thrilled to see a real live human in my neighborhood, not-via-Zoom, I asked it anyway of Kate Donnally when we crossed paths on Green Up Day a couple months ago. She hesitated, and I tried to read her expression from behind her face mask.
“I guess I need to get used to talking about this,” she started. Turns out Kate had just decided to run for office to represent Lamoille County District 2 in the Vermont House. Local community organizers had approached her about running to fill the space on the Democratic ticket being left by Rep. Matt Hill who had decided not to run for another term. She and her family had 36 hours to make a decision.
“We were neck deep in COVID absurdity in terms of having the kids at the house and trying to work two jobs. So when we first were asked, I think I laughed out loud. I was like, ‘That's hilarious! We couldn’t do that.’ But then we were like, ‘Tell us more about it…’” I notice that when Kate talks about her campaign, it’s always “we.” She’s very intentional about recognizing what a family project this is.
Just a few weeks later I was scrolling Instagram and saw that another Kate -- Kate MacLean, the Chelsea farmer behind the breathtaking @longestacrefarm -- had also just announced with a hint of self-consciousness and a ton of conviction that she had decided to run for Vermont House. She wrote:
I’m running because I believe that we can weave progressive ideals with the realities of rural life in a way that has not yet been tested. I’m running because there is not a single woman in the statehouse in her thirties and we are a generation of worthy ideals and abilities. I’m running because 3 men in 3 separate conversations told me I should wait. I’m running because we need more farmers at the Capitol. I’m running because our community deserves representation that is dedicated to thoughtful progress and to uplifting the voices and supporting the needs of all of her constituents. I cannot do this alone. I need your help.
Anyone paying attention to American politics these past few years should recognize the swell of young people, women, and people of color stepping up to run for office in the wake of our coronation of a game show host as our commander in chief, in the wake of the #MeToo movement, in the wake of so many Black lives cut short by police brutality, and certainly now as we’re grappling with the economic fallout of late stage capitalism mixed with the coronavirus. A new generation seems ready to take charge.
Inspired by these two intrepid Kates, I began searching for other newcomer candidates to the Vermont political arena.
I exchanged emails with Taylor Small, a trans-woman running for the Winooski House seat. I spoke with Katherine Sims, whose endorsement I’d seen from Rights & Democracy, running for House for Orleans-Caledonia in the Northeast Kingdom. And when I asked the Vermont GOP who’s on their slate of candidates that doesn’t match the typical old white male profile, I was introduced to Levar Cole, a Black man who moved to Vermont a few years back with his wife and five young kids to trade the stress of Washington, DC for farming and living a more intentional life. Like Kate MacLean, he’s running for an Orange-1 Representative seat.
Honestly I could have had a lot more conversations with folks who are breaking demographic norms and dipping into state politics for the first time. And that mere fact is awesome.
But I’ll stop talking now, and let these candidates speak for themselves.
On Campaigning During a Pandemic
“It is a surreal experience campaigning for the first time, in a pandemic. So instead of the traditional method of going ‘door to door’ I'm calling potential voters by phone. In the morning I always get a few butterflies before I start, as I'm invading somebody's day when I make that call. They aren't expecting me. But, overwhelmingly, people are incredibly warm, kind, and generous with their perspectives and opinions. I love these calls. I learn so much about the district and its history. Inevitably the conversations broaden my perspective, and I'm so grateful for that.”
- Kate MacLean
“There's this age old practice where you get the running list of people who have registered for mail-in voting, and you write them a personal postcard. However, the number of people who've requested mail-in ballots this year is a lot higher than usual. It is bonkers. So I've written probably, like, 800 postcards in the last three weeks! It's hard to figure out what the limits are, like, okay, I can't go to bed at one in the morning and wake up at five in the morning. That's just not sustainable. So you gotta let some things go, and I think that's part of the work of it all.”
- Kate Donnally
“As the first out transgender legislator, I know that I will face both benign and overt forms of transphobia and xenophobia. I will need to confront the ever-present prejudice from ‘established’ legislators. To hold a marginalized identity while running for office is difficult, but the discouraging fact is that these hurdles do not disappear when elected; they are constant. It takes resilience to do this work and that is draining. The silver lining to all of this is community; it is the antidote that helps me continue to push onward.”
- Taylor Small
“We've got five kids. Our oldest is ten and the youngest is four, and as time goes on I keep thinking about how we've got to be an advocate for their future. And sometimes I get concerned about where we're going to go from this pandemic, or when we're going to get back to some semblance of how things were, what the new normal is going to be. I think about that in terms of my kids, the kids down the road from us, the kids up the road from us, the families down the hill from us. With everyone calling in and dropping by, asking me questions on the Selectboard, that really makes me think about those things too.”
- Levar Cole
“This crisis has highlighted long standing inequities. And if there ever was a time for big systemic change, it feels like it's now. That’s what’s particularly exciting to me about all these other women and first time candidates is it feels like there's a lot of new energy and enthusiasm. People stepping up for the first time. Hopefully it’s a moment when new leadership can bring new ideas for how we take care of each other.”
- Katherine Sims
On the Issues (what would you most like to “fix”?)
“There’s a long list, but I think one thing that has been on the list for a long time that's certainly been brought into focus with the pandemic is the lack of access to broadband in our rural communities. Ensuring that there's adequate resources and that we’re accelerating building a broadband network for all of Vermont is a top priority for me.”
- Katherine Sims
“If I could ‘fix’ one thing about Vermont, it would be to make healthcare affordable and accessible for all. We need to move away from the structure that ties health insurance to employment, and instead move to a single-payer system. We have known this for years, as our very own Bernie Sanders preaches this change nationwide.”
- Taylor Small
“I want people to be aware, familiar, and know that government is accessible, government is responsive to them. And that's what I try to do… When we think about global climate change initiatives and carbon taxes, one concern I have is that a lot of rural people have spoken out against it. They say, we're running out of money or budgets are stressed, the carbon taxes or the proposed solutions are really gonna hurt us. And I don't like how we call a lot of the people in rural Vermont climate deniers, or those things. We have an opportunity to listen, and we can bring each other in together to create some alternative solution. I don't know what it is, but demonizing someone as a denier or left winger or something like that, I don't think that's conducive to positive outcomes.”
- Levar Cole
“There seems to be a disconnect between the progressive ideals so many Vermonters hold dear and their implementation in rural communities. There is frustration and impatience on both sides. It is this disconnect that I want to work hard to repair. There is so much to be gained by giving everyone the dignity of listening to their fears, their needs, their realities. It sounds so simple, but I don't think our culture puts enough import on the concept of listening. We like talking too much. I want to listen.”
- Kate MacLean
“I came out in high school when I was 14, and I came out into a very safe community where I was really well taken care of and really well protected. Then when I was in late high school is when the legislature took on civil unions, and it really created a massive rift in the state and it brought to the forefront this nativist culture in Vermont. You’d drive outside of Chittenden County and all over these barns there’d be these massive ‘Take Back Vermont’ signs; that was the rallying cry. And as someone who was born in Vermont and raised in Vermont, to experience that and for the first time in my life to feel unsafe in my home state that I love so much, and for it to be framed in this way where I wasn’t Vermont was a really painful and confusing experience.”
“When I think about the work that I've been doing the last couple years with the development of the Racial Equity Alliance of Lamoille, some of the most powerful moments I've had in working on that coalition have been people coming to me and saying, being a part of this work is the first time I felt really safe in my community. It's the first time I felt really connected to my community. In Vermont we need both people who were born here and people who move here to stay here, sustainably stay here. The list of things that have to happen in our district to make that possible is really, really long. But I feel a big piece of it in my mind is a felt sense of community and a felt sense of connection and a felt sense of safety. And I think there's a lot of people in our community that don't feel that, really, and I feel like that is one of my goals: how do we make our communities places where people feel fundamentally safe and a part of the community in a way that they want to invest in the community and stick around for the future? And if we can take this to the state level, that would be really powerful.”
- Kate Donnally
On the Love of Vermont
“I love that Vermont is a small, intimate state. It allows for active participation in local and state politics in a way that might be out of reach for constituents of other, bigger states.”
- Kate MacLean
“Vermont holds a special place in my heart. This state has provided me the opportunity to explore who I am and the privilege to share my authentic self with others. Moving back to Vermont allowed me to find my community, learn, grow, and give back. This is my home.”
- Taylor Small
“I've had an opportunity to live the life I want to live, and people are understanding about that. I hope that others are able to say the same. And to the extent that they can't, I think we should understand those who are having challenges, and we can help them succeed in that.”
“We are in changing times, and I just hope we'll continue to stay open with each other and civil, and not just civil but understanding and empathetic to each other's needs and experiences and goals and lives.”
- Levar Cole
“I grew up without a lot of resources. And so the progressive nature of Vermont was hugely impactful for me in terms of being able to have access to resources. For me growing up in Vermont it was like, self in community; it was always in the context of community. It wasn't enough to care about your neighbor, you show up for your neighbor. It’s not enough to care about the environment, you show up on Green Up Day and you clean up your neighborhood. It's not just this felt sense of community, but also action. You act on behalf of your community. You come out to rural Vermont and people will tell you story after story of, like, a tree came down in my backyard and my neighbor came over with a chainsaw. I might not have had more than five conversations with him, but he helped me clear it out. And that's what you do.”
- Kate Donnally
“If I had one word to sum it all up, I would say community. I love living in a place where when you go to the general store, everyone knows your name, and you get to eat food from your neighbors, and when you get stuck in the snow bank, somebody comes along and pulls you out. You know, it's just a sense of community where people see each other, and they hear each other, and they look out for each other.”
- Katherine Sims
The Vermont primary election is Tuesday August 11. If you want to vote early or avoid contact on election day, you can request a ballot online. Check your voter status, poll location, view sample ballots and more at mvp.vermont.gov
