Hojun Choi
Affordability remained a central theme throughout The Bridge’s public forums for the Democratic primary races in central Vermont, but candidates offered different approaches to lower central Vermonters’ cost of living.
The two-evening event in late July featured candidates for the only two contested local races in central Vermont, both on the Democratic ticket: Washington-4 state house and Washington District state senate seats. ORCA Media co-hosted the public forum, held at Montpelier City Hall. The primary election is on Aug. 11, and early voting is underway.
Pelin Kohn and Jared Duval are running for the two seats in the Washington-4 state house district, along with incumbent state Rep. Kate McCann. Neither of the newcomers are strangers to local politics. Kohn is a Montpelier city councilor, and Duval ran in the Democratic primary in 2022 for a state senate race.
State Rep. Conor Casey, the other Democrat who represents the only two contested local races in central Vermont, both on the Democratic ticket: Washington-4 district alongside McCann, has announced that he is not seeking reelection. McCann has endorsed Duval, executive director of Energy Action Network, a climate and sustainable energy advocacy organization. No Republican candidate has come forward seeking this role.
Four people, including first-time candidate Gabe LaJeunesse, are on the Democratic primary ticket for the Washington District state senate race, with three seats available. Incumbents Ann Cummings, Andrew Perchlik, and Anne Watson are seeking reelection.
Three candidates are running uncontested on the Republican ticket: Former State Rep. Rob LaClair of Montpelier, Christopher Neddo of Barre Town, and Peter Schmeekle of Stowe.
Additionally, three people — Caleb Curry, Anne Dielensnyder, and incum- bent Leah Murphy Jones are running for two spots to represent the Democratic party for the Washington County assis- tant judge race; one Republican, Ture Nelson of Berlin is also running. See story, page 14.
Cassandra Hemenway, editor-in-chief of The Bridge and one of the moderators of the two-evening event, said she wanted the forum to shine more light on the statehouse races.
“That’s the role of local news: covering the smaller races that may not be on the radar of the larger news outlets, but which are deeply important to our community,” Hemenway said.
Tackling Affordability
Among the statehouse candidates who participated in the two separate forums, Kohn and Perchlik focused their responses most heavily on housing needs when asked to comment on their plans to make the state more affordable.
Pointing to her experience as a city councilor, Kohn said she wants the state to provide municipalities “more flexibility to create housing where infrastructure already exists.” She also said she is against “unnecessary permitting barriers” and called for changes in the state’s appeals process for development.
“It’s very important to give residents the right to protect their environment and nature. At the same time it’s important for all of us to create opportunities to expand housing for all of us.” Kohn said.
Speaking the following day at the state senate forum, Perchlik described housing affordability as his “number one issue.” He, like Kohn, said he sees problems within the state’s appeals process for development.
“We’re also going to need to put some more incentive and money towards housing to really turbocharge the development,” Perchlik said, adding that he supports efforts such as the Vermont Housing Improvement Program and partnerships with nonprofits to create perpetual affordable housing.
While no candidates denied the need for more affordable homes, Cummings, Duval, McCann, and Watson addressed other pressures on the cost of living, such as healthcare and education funding.
LaJeunesse, meanwhile, expressed frustration with what he deemed a lack of effectiveness from current elected officials. He said he wants the Democratic Party to have a more focused “roadmap” to address affordability.
“Whatever good ideas we have, over the last 10 years since Gov. Phil Scott came into office, if you look at standard of living, it’s only gotten more difficult for young people to live here,” LaJeunesse said.
Cummings said she’s committed to making healthcare more accessible in rural Vermont through transportation programs and “hospital transformation plans” in which different medical care facilities can work together to provide what she called a “unified system of healthcare” to Vermonters.
“We have to be careful because most of our hospitals are in financial distress,” Cummings said.
Cummings and Watson both said the state’s adoption of a reference-based pricing model for healthcare, which effectively sets a limit for how much hospitals can charge for medical procedures regardless of a patient’s insurance status, will help everyday Vermonters afford health care.
Watson said she is also interested in further exploring the potential for universal primary care in Vermont.
“I think it’s worth taking a look at the numbers for universal primary care if that would help pencil out and save Vermonters money,” Watson said.
Duval and McCann expressed support for reforms in healthcare affordability, including efforts to expand reference-based pricing. The two state house candidates, however, also said they support tax policies that ease the financial burden on middle and lower income households.
Duval described Vermont’s struggles with affordability as the “number one reason” he decided to run for the house seat. He criticized the GOP-led tax and spending “megabill,” signed into law by President Donald Trump in July 2025, which Democrats have decried as a tax cut for people with the highest levels of income.
“I think the first thing we need to do when it comes to affordability is to rebalance our tax system around the principle of ability to pay and lower the tax burden on lower and middle income folks and ensure that the highest income folks and the wealthiest are paying their fair share,” Duval said.
McCann called for more income-based tax protections for middle-class families and seniors on fixed incomes. She also said she would continue her work to cut unnecessary spending in public education.
“I know the anxiety of rising costs, and that’s why I’m laser-focused on finding long-term relief so that our neighbors aren’t forced to sell their homes,” McCann said.
Audience Reaction
Most of the seats inside the Montpelier City Council chamber were full at both forums, and about 80 people tuned into the live streams.
Nancy Schulz said she thought the candidate forum was valuable, because she believes all three candidates are strong contenders.
“I think it’s a tough choice,” Schulz said.
Former state Rep. Rob LaClair, a Republican who will be running for the Washington District senate seat, attended The Bridge’s forum featuring Cummings, LaJeunesse, Perchlik, and Watson.
“We’ve had 30 years of the majority party and I think it’s a little challenging to point to something and say, ‘You know, that’s going really well and we need more of it.’” LaClair said. “We have very high education costs, we have healthcare costs, we have high homelessness. I think we need to take a different approach to some of these things.”
Donna Goodrich, who also attended the state senate candidates forum, said she wanted to see the dynamic between the first-time candidate, LaJeunesse, and the other sitting state senators.
“I was interested in seeing the tension,” Goodrich said.
In addition to affordability, attendees had a chance to hear candidates’ thoughts on specific issues, including the response to flooding and accountability for law enforcement.
