The crowd was small and the mood low-key at a gathering for Burlington Democrats to watch election results after the polls closed on Town Meeting Day. The party had won a contested race in Ward 7, lost another in Ward 8 and retained its seven-five majority on the city council.
Among the professional class milling about with plastic cups of white wine at BCA Studios, two young men by the hors d’oeuvres table stood out. The men, University of Vermont students who would not give Seven Days their full names, said they’d voted for the Progressive incumbent in Ward 8, Marek Broderick. They were turned off, they said, by Democratic candidate Ryan Nick because they had heard his real estate broker dad was leasing a Williston building to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Standing nearby was Andy Vota, a former chair of the Burlington Democrats. The allegation was a “bullshit lie,” he told the young men, who he accused of coming to troll the people at the party.
“I’m a fucking honest person who says what he’s doing, but you seem like you’re full of shit, and you’re not honest about who you are and what you’re doing,” Vota yelled. The young men left shortly afterward.
Vota’s outburst capped what had turned into a messy campaign season. For the third consecutive year, activist groups launched online attacks against a Democratic candidate, this time over immigration enforcement, housing and homelessness. And while it’s unclear whether the anonymous criticism actually impacted the Ward 8 outcome, the allegations put the candidate on the defensive.
In each case, the Progressives who stood to benefit from the charges distanced themselves from the accusations. But the mudslinging has deepened the divide between the elected Progs and Dems serving on the council, which, even before the election, had led to many contentious debates.
The campaign mudslinging has only deepened the divide between the elected Progs and Dems serving on the council.
In the lead-up to next year’s mayoral race, it remains to be seen whether the council will return to a more collaborative footing — or if the partisan bickering represents a new normal.
“Unfortunately, the devolution of our institutions and political discourse have very much infiltrated our local politics, denying neighbors the real, substantive choices they deserve,” city Democratic leaders said in a statement the day before the election. “We can do better in Burlington.”
Turnout in Ward 8 is typically low relative to other wards, meaning it doesn’t take much to swing an election there. Many of its voters are UVM students and young professionals who lean progressive. Deep divisions around Israel’s war on Gaza, as well as public safety and housing, have galvanized some residents.
This campaign was no different. In early February, Food Not Cops, an organization that provides free hot lunches daily to those in need, published on Instagram a year-old surveillance video from the Marketplace Garage. It shows a person pouring a thick substance onto a brick wall where lunch was to be served.
The person’s face is not visible. The organization claims it verified through a “trusted anonymous source” that the video shows Jeff Nick, president of Burlington commercial real estate brokerage J.L. Davis Realty — and father and employer of Ryan Nick, the Ward 8 Democratic candidate. The substance being poured was maple syrup, according to the group, which accused Jeff of disrupting their operation. Seven Days has not been able to verify their claim.
Jeff did not return multiple requests for comment. In a statement and several follow-up interviews ahead of the election, Ryan called the allegations “unsubstantiated” and said he had “no involvement” in the situation and did not condone “actions that undermine efforts to support vulnerable members” of the community.
Food Not Cops declined to comment on their allegations or allow access to the source, whom the group claimed was close to the Nick family. Despite his best efforts, Ryan said he has also been unable to identify the alleged source.
The downtown lunch program became a flash point last year when more than 100 business owners signed a letter seeking to get it moved from the garage, saying the clientele was scaring off shoppers. Democrats eventually voted to have the mayor move the program but not before hours of contentious council debate with their Progressive colleagues.
In late February, another activist group, the UVM chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine, attacked Ryan over his connections to Burlington area business owners. A subsequent allegation drew a connection between his father’s business and Taft Corners Associates, which leases a building in Williston to the Department of Homeland Security.
The elder Nick identified himself as a co-owner of Taft Corners Associates in a 2022 zoning discussion with the Town of Williston, and he represented the company in a letter to the town selectboard.
But Ryan said his family was “not a part of” Taft Corners Associates and claimed the business has leased the building to the federal government since the Obama administration. Burlington Democrats characterized the attempt to associate Ryan with DHS and Immigration and Customs Enforcement as “misinformation” and “lies.”
Joseph Murphy, who provided a written statement on behalf of UVM Students for Justice in Palestine, said the group wanted to draw attention to Democrats’ “complacency” amid President Donald Trump’s ICE crackdown and “complicity in the ongoing genocide in Palestine.”
“Their strategy to retain voters in spite of this has been to superficially co-opt the rhetoric of social movements while framing public scrutiny as ‘divisiveness’ or ‘negativity’ as they entrench the power of their psychopathic rich friends,” Murphy wrote. “It was obvious that Ryan Nick embodied all of this just from his donor list alone, and we felt it was our responsibility to lay out the full evidence for students when the Progressive Party didn’t seem to want to.”
This wasn’t the first time the group got involved in Burlington politics. For three straight years, its members actively campaigned for the council to allow an “apartheid-free community” pledge to go on the ballot. Each time, the council’s Democratic majority voted against it. Progressives, particularly Broderick, have been staunch advocates for the measure.
During last year’s election, the group aimed an Instagram post at the East District’s Democratic candidate, Allie Schachter, calling her a “racist, Zionist, police-bootlicking apartheid supporter” below an image of her with red laser eyes superimposed on a photo of Gaza under siege. That prompted Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak, a Progressive, to condemn the “harmful and divisive rhetoric” in council campaigns.
While attacking Ryan Nick, the student group also endorsed his opponent, Broderick, who moved to Burlington to attend UVM but is taking a break from his studies this semester. During his first term, the Prog councilor led a bipartisan effort to increase city oversight of UVM dorms, and he’s been a staunch supporter of the Palestinian cause.
Burlington Democrats urged Broderick to put an end to the online attacks. The incumbent refused, saying Students for Justice in Palestine was not coordinating with the Progs and he “would not condemn an organization that’s acting independently.”
But Broderick’s campaign did run social media attack ads of its own, including one that accused Ryan Nick of being “a landlord” — a dirty word to many in a section of the city that’s full of renters — and accepting money from Republicans.
“It’s never okay to take money from supporters of a party that champions ICE and the Trump administration’s campaign of terror and hate at home and abroad,” one Facebook ad read.
According to a February 27 campaign filing, Ryan Nick raised more than $17,000 for the race, including from many donors connected to Burlington area businesses such as Pomerleau Real Estate, ReArch Construction, and other development and real estate operations. Broderick raised more than $10,000, mostly from individual donors, plus $500 from the Green Mountain Democratic Socialists of America.
Broderick’s campaign spent most of its money on digital advertising through Google and Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram. Ryan Nick’s campaign mostly paid for mailers and other print media.
Despite the messaging wars, turnout was only 20 percent in Ward 8. Just 498 people cast ballots — and only 187 went for Nick. After the results came in, Nick said he thought the accusations against his family “absolutely” helped to tank his campaign.
At the Dems’ election night gathering, party chair Ryan Addario tried to put a positive spin on things. The results made it “crystal clear” that Burlingtonians desire “balanced” and “serious” leadership, he said. He also thanked Ryan for his bravery in running and decried how the candidate was “maligned.”
“When fellow community members have worked so relentlessly to reduce their neighbors into either heroes or villains, this is what happens, and the unwillingness of some in this community to differentiate between mortal enemies and imperfect friends is holding us all back,” Addario said. “It’s holding the city back. It’s holding the city council back, and it is creating a dynamic that is absolutely unsustainable.”
Meanwhile, the mood was more jubilant among the capacity crowd at the Prog party at the Wise Fool restaurant in the Old North End. Mayor Mulvaney-Stanak pointed to the passage of four ballot initiatives as clear support for her agenda. The Progs, she said, need to continue leading in “a clear-minded and values-based way that gets rejected by Democrats in this town.”
Mulvaney-Stanak wasn’t the only elected official to denounce the Dems that night. Councilor Melo Grant (P-Central District), who often puts herself at the center of spats with her colleagues — and whose own election last year featured a war of words with Schachter — urged the crowd to be more aggressive in countering the Dems’ influence.
“They’re hypocrites. We’re not calling that out enough,” she said of the Democrats. “They’re winning the propaganda game, and we have to do better.” ➆
The original print version of this article was headlined “Mud Season | For the third consecutive year, a Burlington election campaign gets personal”
This article appears in March 11 • 2026.
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