08/12/2026
My neighbors, we have won. Thank you to the people of Chittenden-Central for putting your trust in me. We have a resounding mandate for bold structural change.
Our victory is a victory for Vermonters. Our victory is a victory for workers and organized labor. Every single labor union that weighed in on this race backed our campaign. I am enormously grateful to the Vermont State Employees Association, Vermont-NEA, CIR/SEIU Healthcare, and Vermont AFL-CIO. Our victory is for all who believe that we can make history and another world is possible if we have the courage to fight for it.
I want to offer my congratulations to Martine Larocque Gulick for Vermont Senate and Tanya Vyhovsky for State Senate for their hard-fought victories. I look forward to working with them in the Vermont State Senate to deliver for working people. I also want to sincerely thank Elaine Haney for Vermont Senate for running a strong campaign and her decades of dedicated public service. It is no easy task to run for office and put yourself under public scrutiny, and I am honored to have been in a race with three outstanding candidates.
We knocked on more than 7,200 doors (I did some 5,000 doors), made thousands of phone calls, and engaged more than eleven thousand Vermonters. The best part of this campaign has been meeting all of you, learning about your lives, and listening to your concerns, struggles, and dreams for an affordable Vermont. The simple truth is that working people are being priced out of our state. The number one comment I heard at the doorstep was: I don’t think I can afford to stay in Vermont.
We must attack the affordability crisis with the full power and might of our state government. In housing, in health care, in education, in transportation, in climate. Let me be clear: our structural problems can only be solved with structural solutions.
We are at a critical turning point in our history. We all know that Vermont can and must do better. We know that we can become a state that fixes up dilapidated, abandoned housing into affordable homes. We know that we can become a state that keeps public dollars in public schools. We know that we can become a state that provides primary and preventative care for all and stops hospitals from price-gouging patients and engaging in monopolistic practices. We know that we can become a state that takes on the power of Big Tech and AI to protect our kids and seniors. And we know that we can become a state that cares for every single one of our neighbors, no matter their race, no matter their gender, no matter who they love, no matter whether they were born here or immigrated here.
Thank you to anyone who knocked on a door, put up a lawn sign, made a phone call, attended an event, volunteered at the polls, or contributed to the campaign. I am forever grateful.
This is just the beginning. It’s time to get to work. Join us to build a future where no Vermonter is priced out. Thank you so much.
