Screenshot Courtest of Town Meeting TV
Will Emmons (left) and Chris Haessly
Two more candidates are officially in the running to become Burlington's next mayor.
Chris Haessly and Will Emmons, both independents, each submitted a petition with the 150 signatures needed to qualify for the March 5 Town Meeting Day ballot, according to the Burlington City Clerk's Office.
They join state Rep. Emma Mulvaney-Stanak, a Progressive, and City Councilor Joan Shannon, a Democrat, both of whom have been campaigning for months. The winner will replace outgoing Mayor Miro Weinberger, a Democrat who is stepping down after four terms in office.
The election will be decided with a ranked-choice ballot — the first time the city has used the method to elect a mayor since 2009. The system lets voters rank candidates in order of preference. If none gets a majority in the first round, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated and the second-choice votes of everyone who picked
that candidate are then tallied. The process continues until someone wins more than 50 percent of the votes.
The system is said to reduce the "spoiler effect," in which a third-party candidate "steals" votes from a like-minded competitor, inadvertently helping their least-liked candidate to win. City council races are also decided using ranked choice.
A former school commissioner, Haessly serves on the steering committee for the Wards 2 & 3 Neighborhood Planning Assembly. He last ran for public office in 2021, when he vied for the Progressive nomination to fill the Ward 3 seat being vacated by then-councilor Brian Pine. He was eliminated in the first round of the five-person, ranked-choice election with 3.6 percent of the vote. Councilor Joe Magee, who isn't running for reelection this year, was the victor.
Emmons joined a crowded field for mayor in 2021, going up against incumbent Weinberger, then-city council president Max Tracy, Councilor Ali Dieng and two other independent candidates. Emmons received just 27 votes or 0.19 percent of the total cast.
The races for city council are also set, though Democrats may notice their Ward 3 candidate is missing from the ballot.
Malik Mines, whom the Dems nominated at their December caucus, missed this week's deadline to turn in his petition. He said he plans to run as a write-in against Progressive Joe Kane and Republican Christopher-Aaron Felker, both of whom
will be on the ballot.
Mines said he was tied up at work and didn't make it to city hall before the 5 p.m. deadline on January 29 — what he termed a "crucial mistake." He said he plans to send out stickers with his name on them that voters can affix to their ballots.
"I'm not giving up," Mines said. "I am truly dedicated."
In Ward 1, Democrat Geoff Hand and Progressive Carter Neubieser are vying for the seat being vacated by Councilor Zoraya Hightower, a Progressive. The Ward 4 contest is between incumbent Councilor Sarah Carpenter, a Democrat, and Progressive Dan Castrigano. In Ward 5, incumbent Councilor Ben Traverse, a Democrat, faces a challenge from Lena Greenberg, an independent endorsed by the Progs.
Ward 6, which is being vacated by Council President Karen Paul, a Democrat, is a contest between Progressive Will Anderson and Democrat Becca Brown McKnight. The Ward 7 seat, held by outgoing Councilor Dieng, will be filled by either Dem-endorsed Evan Litwin or Prog pick Lee Morrigan. Vying for Ward 8 are incumbent Councilor Hannah King, a Democrat, and Marek Broderick, who was endorsed by Progressives.
Only the Ward 2 seat is without competition. Incumbent Gene Bergman, a Progressive, is running unopposed.
Seven Days and Town Meeting TV will host a mayoral debate with the four candidates on Wednesday, February 7, at Burlington City Hall.
Click here for more information.
The city will mail out ballots to all registered voters by February 14.