Burlington community activist and prominent Democratic campaign manager Joanna Grossman announced on Sunday that she is running for a Vermont Senate seat in the Chittenden-Southeast district.
The South End resident said she is launching her first campaign for public office because her party badly needs to change direction.
“The Democratic Party is lost, but I’m not,” Grossman said. “I think to most Vermonters, it’s pretty clear that we need to get tougher.”
She said Vermonters are “smart, resourceful and brave” and she sees “no reason why we need to roll over for the fascist agenda destroying this country.”
The district, which includes a small portion of Burlington, South Burlington and eight surrounding towns, is currently represented by three Democrats: Thomas Chittenden, Virgina “Ginny” Lyons, and Kesha Ram Hinsdale. All are expected to run again.
Of those, Ram Hinsdale could be the most vulnerable. In 2024, she came in third with 15 percent of the vote, behind Lyons with 18 percent and Chittenden with 21 percent. The district has three Senate seats.
Grossman said she took a step back from managing political campaigns after Andy Julow, whose campaign she ran, lost his bid to represent the Grand Isle Senate district in 2024.
She instead turned her attention to fighting a proposed 107,000-square-foot Amazon distribution center in Essex, an effort that her employer, Burlington’s Phoenix Books, backed. The community denied the online retailer a permit in July.
Grossman and Julow also have a popular podcast called “There’s No ‘A’ in Creemee.”
Grossman said her campaign will focus on helping make Vermont affordable so young people can live here. She said she doesn’t support the school-consolidation effort under way because there is no evidence that it will save money and lower taxes. The best way for school districts to save dollars would be for the state to reduce health care costs, she said. And the best way to pay for high costs would be to raise taxes on second-home owners, she added.
Grossman also said Vermont ought to focus on regional government because “towns can’t solve things like housing or health care alone.”
She said she’s got the skills and the relationships to help bring communities together to solve big problems.
“We don’t need senators who are looking up trying to figure out what’s next in their political carer,” Grossman said. “We need senators who are looking inward at our communities, building bridges and creating coalitions.”
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