Burlington, Vermont elects first female mayor with ranked choice voting 

Voters in Burlington, Vermont used ranked choice voting (RCV) on Tuesday to elect Emma Mulvaney-Stanak as the city’s first female mayor. 

Mulvaney-Stanak, a state representative from the Progressive Party, won with 51% of the vote in the first round – meaning most Burlington voters ranked her as their top choice. City Councilor Joan Shannon earned 45% of voters’ first choices. Two independent candidates, Will Emmons and Christopher Haessly, earned the remaining 3% of first choices.

Vermont is one of seven states whose most populous city uses ranked choice voting. RCV is popular in large cities because it helps voters navigate crowded fields, and has increased opportunities for a diverse range of candidates to seek and win office. For example, women hold over half of city council seats in cities that use RCV. 

This was the first Burlington mayoral race to use RCV since it was adopted for mayoral contests in a 2023 ballot measure, with 64% voting in favor. This came just two years after Burlington adopted RCV for its city council elections. Burlington voted to expand RCV on the same day they first used it to elect city council members, reflecting their enthusiasm for ranking their ballots. 

During the campaign for the 2023 expansion of ranked choice voting, Sam McGinty of the Vermont Public Interest Research Group explained how Burlington voters were already benefiting from RCV:

Voters have felt the benefits of RCV and voted for more. In crowded single-choice elections, candidates win without a majority and voters are forced to vote strategically. With ranked choice voting, more candidates can run without worrying about ‘splitting the vote,’ while voters can vote their conscience and elect candidates that they truly support. Burlington is bringing better, fairer representation to more elections.