Emerge Vermont announced today that 22 women who have trained with the organization are running for local office on Town Meeting Day 2023. Fourteen candidates are alums of the Signature Training program and eight have participated in other campaign trainings offered by Emerge Vermont.
“We are excited to see so many of our alums and trainees running for city council, selectboard, and school board across Vermont,” said Elaine Haney, executive director of Emerge Vermont. “This number has more than doubled from last year, and we attribute that to the ever increasing necessity for women to be better represented in local government.”
“It is our hope that these candidates will use their leadership abilities to create positive change in their communities across the state,” said Haney. “We are supportive of more women running for office and will continue to recruit and train candidates who are representative of our democracy.”
The Emerge Vermont alums and trainees currently on Town Meeting Day ballots across Vermont are:
*Trained with Emerge Vermont in smaller campaign trainings.
A free online forum featuring 14 of these candidates will be held on Wednesday, February 22nd at 6:30 PM. The Local Candidate Spotlight will showcase these candidates and their stump speeches. Secretary of State Sarah Copeland Hanzas (also an Emerge Vermont alum) will deliver the keynote and will be joined by Rep. Mike McCarthy, chair of the House Government Operations Committee. People interested in attending this online event can register here.