The 2024 Burlington mayoral election was held on March 5, 2024. It elected the

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

Burlington, Vermont Burlington, officially the City of Burlington, is the List of municipalities in Vermont, most populous city in the U.S. state of Vermont and the county seat, seat of Chittenden County, Vermont, Chittenden County. It is located south of the Can ...

. Incumbent Democratic mayor Miro Weinberger declined to seek re-election. City councilor Joan Shannon defeated CD Mattison and Karen Paul for the Democratic nomination. The

Vermont Progressive Party The Vermont Progressive Party, formerly the Progressive Coalition and Independent Coalition, is a political party in the United States that is active in Vermont. It is the third-largest political party in Vermont behind the Democratic and Repub ...

nominated state representative Emma Mulvaney-Stanak. In the general election, Mulvaney-Stanak prevailed, defeating Shannon and two independent candidates. Mulvaney-Stanak became Burlington's first female and first openly LGBT mayor, as well as being the first Progressive to serve as mayor of Burlington since

Bob Kiss Bob Kiss (born April 1, 1947) is an American politician and former mayor of Burlington, Vermont. Kiss was a member of the Vermont House of Representatives from January 2001 until he stepped down to assume office as mayor of Burlington, followin ...

left office in 2012.

Background

Miro Weinberger's victory in the 2012 mayoral election made him the first

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (Cyprus) (DCY) **Democratic Part ...

to serve as Burlington's mayor since

Gordon Paquette Gordon H. Paquette (November 25, 1916 – March 15, 1995) was an American politician who served as the 36th Mayor of Burlington, Vermont from 1971 to 1981, when he was defeated by future United States Senator and presidential candidate Ber ...

lost re-election to

Bernie Sanders Bernard Sanders (born September8, 1941) is an American politician and activist who is the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States Senate, United States senator from the state of Vermont. He is the longest-serving independ ...

in the 1981 election. Weinberger was re-elected in 2015,

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

, and

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

. Weinberger is the longest serving consecutive mayor in Burlington history and second-longest serving overall after

Peter Clavelle Peter A. Clavelle (born May 10, 1949) is an American politician who served as the 38th and 40th List of mayors of Burlington, Vermont, mayor of Burlington, Vermont, and was the first member of a Third party (United States), third party to hold t ...

. The Democrats won a majority on the city council in the 2023 elections; previously, the Progressive Party held a plurality of seats on the council. This was the first Burlington mayoral election to use

ranked-choice voting Ranked-choice voting may be used as a synonym for: * Ranked voting, a term used for any voting system in which voters are asked to rank candidates in order of preference * Instant-runoff voting (IRV), a specific ranked voting system with single-wi ...

since the 2009 mayoral election. Voters approved a referendum to re-adopt the system for mayoral races in the 2023 election, despite opposition from Weinberger.

Kurt Wright Kurt Wright (born February 7, 1956) is an American politician who served in the Vermont House of Representatives from 2001 to 2019, and on Burlington, Vermont's city council intermittently between 1995 and 2020. He was president of the city counci ...

, the last Republican to serve on the Burlington city council and a former mayoral candidate, argued that the use of ranked-choice voting would help Republicans, as it meant a Republican could run for mayor and not " drain votes away from another candidate."

Democratic caucus

On September 28, 2023, Weinberger announced that he would not seek reelection. The Democratic caucus was held on December 10.

Nominee

*Joan Shannon, city councilor and former council president

Eliminated at caucus

*CD Mattison, nonprofit executive and former vice chair of the Burlington Democratic Party *Karen Paul, city council president

Declined

* Miro Weinberger, incumbent mayor

Endorsements

Results

Progressive caucus

The Progressive caucus was held on December 7, 2023.

Nominee

* Emma Mulvaney-Stanak, leader of the Progressive caucus in the

Vermont House of Representatives The Vermont House of Representatives is the lower house of the Vermont General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Vermont. The House comprises 150 members, with each member representing around 4,100 citizens. Representatives a ...

, former Burlington city councilor, and former chair of the

Declined

*Zoraya Hightower, city councilor *Joe Magee, city councilor *Max Tracy, former city council president and nominee for mayor in

''(endorsed Mulvaney-Stanak)''

Endorsements

Republican caucus

The Republican caucus was held on December 19, 2023. No candidate was nominated for the mayoral race.

Declined

, former state representative, former Burlington city council president, and nominee for mayor in

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

and

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

Independents

Declared

*Will Emmons, former arbitration advocate for the

American Postal Workers Union The American Postal Workers Union (APWU) is a trade union, labor union in the United States. It represents over 200,000 employees and retirees of the United States Postal Service who belong to the Clerk, Maintenance, Motor Vehicle, and Support S ...

and candidate for mayor in

*Chris Haessly, former Burlington School Committee member

General election

Endorsements

Endorsements in bold were made after the caucuses.

Fundraising

Shannon raised $132,124 from 651 donors, spending around $60,000. Donors to her campaign include former Vermont Governor

Howard Dean Howard Brush Dean III (born November 17, 1948) is an American physician, author, consultant, and retired politician who served as the 79th governor of Vermont from 1991 to 2003 and chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) from 2005 to 20 ...

and former state Attorney General T.J. Donovan. Mulvaney-Stanak raised $67,052 from 514 donors, spending roughly $35,000. Donors included state Attorney General

Charity Clark Charity Rae Clark (born July 15, 1975) is an American lawyer and politician from Vermont. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, she has served as Vermont Attorney General since January 2023. Early life and career C ...

, city councilor Zoraya Hightower, and former city councilors Vince Brennan and Max Tracy.

Results

Voter turnout rose from 39% in 2021, to 47% in 2024, with every ward seeing its turnout rise. Mulvaney-Stanak's victory made her the first women and openly LGBT person to be mayor. Shannon performed poorly ward 5, which she represented on the city council, winning it 1,185 to 1,075. Progressive councilor Gene Bergman stated that Mulvaney-Stanak's performance in ward 5 "speaks to the fact that we ran a campaign that reached those folks". Mulvaney-Stanak performed better than the Progressive candidates in every ward that elected a Democratic councilor. Jane Knodell, who worked as Shannon's treasurer, stated that Shannon lost due to discontent under Weinberger's tenure and Democrats holding the mayoralty for 12 years.

Notes

References

Works cited

External links

Emma Mulvaney-Stanak (P) for MayorJoan Shannon (D) for Mayor
{{2024 United States elections Burlington 2024 Vermont elections Mayoral elections in Burlington, Vermont 2024 in Vermont 21st century in Burlington, Vermont March 2024 in the United States