Burlington City Council President Jane Knodell eked out an 81-vote victory on Tuesday over independent challenger Genese Grill en route to securing a ninth term on the council.
Knodell will retain her Central District seat after a hard fought campaign by Grill, an activist who made her mark during the debate last year surrounding the Burlington Town Center redevelopment.
The Progressive Knodell told two dozen well-wishers who celebrated at Butch + Babe’s in the Old North End that she had her doubts about the race’s outcome. “I think I’ve lost,” she said she confided in fellow councilor Sara Giannoni in the final hours before polls closed.
In the end, though, her supporters came through, giving her the victory by a 6-point margin. For the celebration, Knodell donned a T-shirt emblazoned with a quote that referred to Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.): “She was warned, she was given an explanation. Nevertheless, she persisted.”
“It was a great team effort,” Knodell said to cheers.
Knodell was one of the three incumbents up for reelection — and all three prevailed. In the South district, Democrat Joan Shannon handily beat the opposition with 66 percent of the vote, fending off Progressive Charles Simpson and independent Abdullah Sall.
Dave Hartnett, who ran unopposed, was reelected to his seat in the North District. Hartnett will return to his seat as a Democrat after a two-year stint as an independent.
Meanwhile, Richard Deane, a Democrat and political novice, beat out Progressive Charles Winkleman by a 6-point margin. Deane will replace Progressive Selene Colburn, who vacated her seat after winning election in November to the state legislature.
At a gathering of Democrats at Nectar’s, Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger lauded the advances the party made Tuesday. “We’ve got a lot to celebrate tonight,” he told the jubilant crowd.
With the three victories by Dems, the party will hold six of the council’s 12 seats. The rest of the council consists of three Progressives, two independents and one Republican.
“We’re going to have to work together,” said Knodell.
Among the challenging issues the council faces is the sale of Burlington Telecom, Knodell noted. But she vowed to run for a third one-year term as city council president, a position that the council will pick in early April. “I think I have the votes,” she said.
At Grill’s gathering at the North End Studios down the street from Butch + Babe’s, the assemblage seemed resigned — but not defeated.
There was pizza and 12-packs of beer and hugs all around as the results became clear.
“This is the most amazing, amazing thing I’ve ever been a part of and I’ve been a part of a lot of amazing things,” Grill said, standing on a chair to address the gathering of 25 supporters.
“I don’t want to be a city councilor,” she later admitted. “I wanted to show people we could make a change. We did — just not enough.”
Grill said she doesn’t plan to run again, though she does plan to keep fighting for issues she holds dear. “We have no other choice,” she said. “There’s a lot at stake.”
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Let’s face it – all candidates are honorable, and all actually wanted to be on the City Council. I think the opposition to the contenders (especially to Genese), is out of line with these spiteful comments and dislikes. If Jane was so superior to her opponent, why did she just barely win? (including a last day flurry of pamphlets mailed to everyone in her district) It will disappoint me greatly if I don’t get a storm of dislikes for this comment. Come on, ye happily victorious ones, let’s see you kick this letter to the curb. Until next time, farewell! Change will come to this city, eventually. A good change.
The last quote about Genese not wanting to be on city council was taken out of context. I was there and heard Genese talking about how this run was for and about the people and not just about being on city council. I believe the point was that it is beyond one person. Sad to see this taken out of context and all of the nasty comments here. Perhaps we have become so cynical in regard to politics that people can’t recognize humility and the desire to actually serve.
Genese is a remarkable person who contributed enormously to this community through her campaign, as did all of the candidates who gave their time and energy to run.
I question the civic value and utility of a comment platform like this that allows those so disposed to lurk anonymously in dark corners and spew venom. That’s not the civic discourse that supports and advances democracy, but quite the opposite.
The quote at the end of this otherwise good article was taken completely out of context, or misunderstood by Ms. Jickling, whose work I usually admire very much. Of course I wanted to win and I am deeply disappointed at the outcome of the race. Those of you who choose to scoff from the comfort, safety, and anonymity of your homes can have no idea what it takes to run an election campaign, to go door to door in the freezing cold, to have meetings every day and night, to have to listen to nasty unfounded attacks by people. You also have no idea of the joy of working with neighbors for something to believe in. Of course I wanted to win. The point is, I am not a career politician and running and serving as a City Councilor, had I won, is a sacrifice I was willing to make because the need, in my opinion and the opinion of the 47% of the people who voted in 2 and 3, was so great as to make that sacrifice worth it. I am so grateful for all the people who worked to get us as far as we did, and to all the people who donated money, time, advice, encouragement. Those of you who want to scoff will just keep scoffing. The rest of us will keep working for a better democratic process that welcomes more and more people into the discussion. Onward!
I feel sorry for voters who devoted their faith, time, and nearly $5,000 in Kickstarter funds toward a campaign for a seat at the table Genese never wanted. She promised a lot in her run for office, but in the end, couldn’t even deliver honest intent? Way to spit in the eye of democracy.
“I didn’t want to be a City Councilor anyway” sounds like a sore loser to me (or a kid who lost a student council election)! Agree with the @Scott Pavek that we dodged a bullet on this one. Also agreed that she ran a very negative and hateful campaign for someone with no interest in governing anyway…or maybe just a stunt to get some publicity and help legitimize the CLC (and herself)?
Thanks for running Genese, Charles S. and Charles W. You all were a voice for those who don’t want business as usual in Burlington. Judging by the close results, there are a lot of constituents who agreed with you. Hopefully City Hall will notice they don’t have as wide a margin as they thought they did and act accordingly.
Well, I’m relieved we elected individuals actually interested in serving on the City Council. I guess we all dodged a bullet.
It’s shocking to hear that after what she did, after all the name calling and accusations of bad conduct, Grill says she “doesn’t want to be a city councilor.”
Is it just sour grapes? Or did she actually not want to be a city councilor from the start? If the latter, why did she waste the time of all the people who supported her campaign? Either way, it is a very bad thing to say in respond to a loss.
Governing isn’t a game. Don’t run if you aren’t taking the possibility of winning seriously. This isn’t just for Grill but anyone who thinks that “politics” is fun and doesn’t think ahead to the governing part.