Sarah L. Copeland Hanzas (born July 9, 1970) is an American Democratic Party politician who is currently serving as the

Secretary of State of Vermont The secretary of state of Vermont is one of five cabinet-level constitutional officers in the U.S. state of Vermont which are elected every two years. The secretary of state is fourth (behind the lieutenant governor, speaker of the House of Repr ...

. She previously served in the

Vermont House of Representatives The Vermont House of Representatives is the lower house of the Vermont General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Vermont. The House comprises 150 members, with each member representing around 4,100 citizens. Representatives a ...

from Orange County's 2nd district, having been first elected in 2004. Copeland Hanzas was elected as the Secretary of State in

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

and

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

, defeating Republican nominee and

perennial candidate A perennial candidate is a political candidate who frequently runs for elected office and rarely, if ever, wins. Perennial candidates are most common where there is no limit on the number of times that a person can run for office and little cost ...

H. Brooke Paige both times.

Early life and career

Sarah Louise Copeland Hanzas was born in

Lake Forest, Illinois Lake Forest is a city located in Lake County, Illinois, United States. Per the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 19,367. The city is along the shore of Lake Michigan, and is a part of the Chicago metropolitan area and t ...

on July 9, 1970 and her family moved to Vermont in 1971. She grew up in

Corinth Corinth ( ; , ) is a municipality in Corinthia in Greece. The successor to the ancient Corinth, ancient city of Corinth, it is a former municipality in Corinthia, Peloponnese (region), Peloponnese, which is located in south-central Greece. Sin ...

and graduated from

Bradford Bradford is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in West Yorkshire, England. It became a municipal borough in 1847, received a city charter in 1897 and, since the Local Government Act 1972, 1974 reform, the city status in the United Kingdo ...

's Oxbow High School in 1988. She then attended the

University of Vermont The University of Vermont and State Agricultural College, commonly referred to as the University of Vermont (UVM), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Burlington, Vermont, United States. Foun ...

from which she received a Bachelor of Arts in history in 1992 and a Bachelor of Arts in geology in 1993. In 1995, she completed her teaching certification at Upper Valley Educators Institute in

Lebanon, New Hampshire Lebanon ( ) is the only city in Grafton County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 14,282 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, up from 13,151 at the 2010 United States census, 2010 census. Lebanon is in western New Hampshi ...

. After becoming qualified as a teacher, Copeland Hanzas instructed secondary science in several Upper

Connecticut River The Connecticut River is the longest river in the New England region of the United States, flowing roughly southward for through four states. It rises 300 yards (270 m) south of the U.S. border with Quebec, Canada, and discharges into Long Isl ...

Valley public schools and at Valley Vista residential treatment center in Bradford. Beginning in 2010, she owned a small business in Bradford, the Local Buzz Cafe, which she operated until she closed it in 2021.

Political career

In 2004, Copeland Hanzas was elected to the

. She was reelected every two years through 2020, and served from January 2005 to January 2023. During her House service, Copeland Hanzas was a member of the Health Care Committee and chair of the Government Operations Committee. From 2015 to 2017, she was the majority leader. While in the house, she also served on the Executive Committee of the National Conference of State Legislatures. In 2022, Copeland Hanzas was a candidate for the Democratic nomination for secretary of state. In the August primary, she defeated deputy secretary of state Chris Winters and Montpelier city clerk John Odum; Copeland Hanzas received 43 percent of the vote to 41 for Winters and 16 for Odum. In the November general election, she defeated perennial Republican candidate H. Brooke Paige by a vote of 61 to 33 percent. She was sworn in for the beginning of her term in January 2023.

Personal life

Copeland is married to John P. Hanzas Jr. They reside in

Bradford, Vermont Bradford is a town in Orange County, Vermont, United States. The population was 2,790 at the 2020 census. Bradford is located on the county's eastern border, bordering both the Connecticut River and New Hampshire, and is a commercial center fo ...

and are the parents of three children. She is

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

References

External links

Government website

Campaign website
* , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Copeland-Hanzas, Sarah 1970 births 21st-century members of the Vermont General Assembly 21st-century American women politicians Democratic Party members of the Vermont House of Representatives Living people People from Bradford, Vermont People from Lake Forest, Illinois Secretaries of state of Vermont University of Vermont alumni Women state legislators in Vermont