Emma Mulvaney-Stanak

Emma Mulvaney-Stanak is an American politician who serves as the mayor of Burlington, Vermont as a member of the Vermont Progressive Party, which she once chaired. She was a member of the Burlington city council from 2009 and 2010 to 2012, and the Vermont House of Representatives from 2021 to 2024.

Mulvaney-Stanak was educated at Smith College. She became involved in politics when she was director of the Vermont Living Wage Campaign and as field director for Scudder Parker's gubernatorial campaign during the 2006 election. She was elected to the city council in 2009, but had to resign due to her moving. She returned to the city council in 2010, where she was at one point the only Progressive member. She defeated incumbent state representative Jean O'Sullivan for a seat in the state house.

Mulvaney-Stanak was elected mayor of Burlington in 2024, becoming the first Progressive hold the office since 2012, and the first woman and openly LGBT person to serve as mayor in the city's history.

Early life and education

Emma Mulvaney-Stanak and her twin sibling Lluvia were born to Joelen Mulvaney and Ed Stanak, who later ran for Vermont Attorney General with the Vermont Progressive Party's nomination in 2012. Mulvaney-Stanak graduated from Smith College with a degree in political science. She married Megan Moir, with whom she has two children.

Career

Local and state politics

Mulvaney-Stanak was director of the Vermont Living Wage Campaign. She worked as field director for Scudder Parker's gubernatorial campaign during the 2006 election.

Mulvaney-Stanak was elected to succeed Jane Knodell, a member of the Progressive Party, on the city council from the 2nd district in Burlington, Vermont, with the nomination of the Progressive Party against Democratic nominee Nicole Pelletier. However, she resigned from the city council on December 15, 2009, due to her moving from the 2nd district to the 3rd district which the city charter required her to resign for. Democratic nominee Bram Kranichfeld won election to the city council from the 2nd district in the 2010 election.

Clarence Davis, a member of the Progressive Party, did not seek reelection to the city council from the 3rd district in the 2010 election. Mulvaney-Stanak won in the 2010 election without opposition. She was the only Progressive member of the fourteen-member city council following the resignation of Marisa Caldwell in 2010, which was the lowest amount for the party since 1981. She did not seek reelection in the 2012 election and Rachel Siegel was elected to succeed her.

Mulvaney-Stanak was selected to be secretary of the Vermont Progressive Party in April 2013. Martha Abbott did not seek reelection as chair of the Vermont Progressive Party. Mulvaney-Stanak was selected to be chair of the party on November 10, 2013, and was reelected in 2015. She resigned as chair on June 9, 2017, to focus on her job working for the Vermont-National Education Association and Anthony Pollina was selected to be interim chair.

Vermont House of Representatives

Mulvaney-Stanak ran for the Progressive and Democratic nomination for a seat in the Vermont House of Representatives from the Chittenden-6-2 district during the 2020 election. She defeated incumbent Democratic Representative Jean O'Sullivan in the Democratic primary and won in the general election without opposition. During the primary O'Sullivan claimed that Mulvaney-Stanak was not a real Democrat.

In 2020, Mulvaney-Stanak was selected by a unanimous vote of seven to be assistant chair of the Vermont Progressive Party's caucus in the state house. She was selected to become the caucus' leader on November 21, 2023, with Taylor Small replacing her as assistant leader.

Mayoralty

On October 16, 2023, Mulvaney-Stanak announced her run for mayor of Burlington after Mayor Miro Weinberger announced that he would not seek reelection. She defeated Democratic nominee Joan Shannon in the election. Mulvaney-Stanak was the first woman and open member of the LGBT community elected as mayor of Burlington. Prior to her election only 10 women had been elected as mayor across Vermont since 1793.

Mulvaney-Stanak was allowed to remain in the state house after being elected mayor, but chose to resign so that she could focus on her mayoral duties. Governor Phil Scott appointed Abbey Duke, a Democrat who was one of six options presented by the Democratic and Progressive parties, to succeed her. Mulvaney-Stanak and other Progressives were critical of Scott for not appointing another member of the Progressive Party to succeed her.

Mulvaney-Stanak entered office with a budget deficit of $9 million, but this was later determined to be $14 million due miscalculations. The $107.8 million budget she passed for 2025 had $1.35 million in revenue after raising the tax rate by 10.7% In June 2024, Mulvaney-Stanak was criticized for being the beneficiary of a special food drive which provides her and her family free weekly dinners.

Mulvaney-Stanak appointed public defender Jessica Brown to serve as city attorney, a position which had been vacant for two years. She reappointed Jon Murad as chief of police in 2024. On January 8, 2025, she issued an executive order requiring that all press releases by the police department be approved by her office.

Electoral history

References

Works cited

News

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Mulvaney-Stanak, Emma
21st-century American LGBTQ people
21st-century American women politicians
21st-century mayors of places in Vermont
American lesbian politicians
Democratic Party members of the Vermont House of Representatives
LGBTQ mayors of places in the United States
LGBTQ state legislators in Vermont
Living people
Mayors of Burlington, Vermont
Smith College alumni
Vermont Progressive Party chairs
Vermont Progressive Party politicians
Women mayors of places in Vermont
Women state legislators in Vermont
Year of birth missing (living people)
21st-century members of the Vermont General Assembly