Becca Balint zipped up and down the sidelines of Middlebury's Memorial Day parade, pausing every few feet to commune with spectators. "I love that dress!".
weekly political column. Tim Newcomb
Kevin Burgess, the Vermont Democratic Party s director of outreach, quit earlier this month, citing a toxic work environment and a complete and utter failure of party leadership. Days later,
Scott McNeil, the party s executive director, announced he s leaving, too. The Vermont GOP is also in disarray, split between fealty to and disdain for former president
Donald Trump. Burlington s 19-year-old GOP chair,
Kolby LaMarche, recently called on state party chair and Trump supporter
Deb Billado to resign. When that didn t happen, he stepped down himself. Meanwhile, groups such as Emerge Vermont, an affiliate of a national group that recruits and trains Democratic women to run for office, and the newly formed Bright Leadership Institute, a stand-alone, nonpartisan group supporting candidates of color, have taken up some of the functions former