Four compete for two state House seats in Washington-2 race
Oct. 28, 2022 | By Lisa Scagliotti
Candidates for the two House seats in the Washington-2 district participate in a forum. Left to right: Moderator Eric Friedman, executive director of the Mad River Valley Chamber of Commerce; incumbent Rep. Kari Dolan, a Waitsfield Democrat; Warren Independent Gene Bifano; Moretown Democrat Dara Torre; and Fayston Independent Rebecca Baruzzi. Screenshot
Editor’s Note: See the Waterbury Roundabout Candidate Survey for Washington-2 here.
The race for the two Vermont House seats to represent Duxbury and the Mad River Valley communities is competitive this year with four candidates, just one of whom is an incumbent.
Running for re-election this year in the Washington-2 district is Rep. Kari Dolan, a Waitsfield Democrat. The decision by her colleague Rep. Maxine Grad, D-Moretown, not to seek re-election has sparked competition with three newcomers entering the race: Rebecca Baruzzi, an Independent from Fayston; Gene Bifano, an Independent from Warren; and Democrat Dara Torre from Moretown.
They all are looking to represent Duxbury, Moretown, Fayston, Waitsfield and Warren in January.
The candidates have all met in two forums that were recorded and available to view online. Mad River Valley Television and The Valley Reporter newspaper hosted a 90-minute online forum via Zoom on Sept. 19. The newspaper published a story from that discussion and the full recording is online on Mad River TV.
On Oct. 4, the Mad River Valley Chamber of Commerce hosted a forum at the Big Red Barn at Lareau Farm in Waitsfield. Chamber Executive Director Eric Friedman moderated that in-person event posing questions related to business issues. That also was recorded by Mad River Valley Television and all four candidates participated.
The Valley Reporter published a story covering responses to several of the questions along with the link to the full video recording that’s approximately an hour and 15 min.
Finally, Waterbury Roundabout has sent the candidates a survey and will update this post with their responses during the week of Oct. 31.