Around New England

Republican Runs for City Council in Burlington, Vermont

January 10, 2019

Paco DeFrancis is the only Republican running for the city council in Burlington, Vermont — and if he doesn’t win his longshot race, then in a couple of years there may not be any Republicans on it.

DeFrancis, 27, has some unusual policy goals, including eliminating on-street parking in the city in favor of bicycle lanes.

Like most Republicans, though, he wants to decrease taxes — his plan calls for dropping property taxes 10 cents per $100 of appraised value, according to Seven Days.

Beating the Democratic incumbent in the liberal South End of Burlington (plus a 22-year-old Somali Progressive Party challenger born in Kenya) in the March 5, 2019 city election would be “miraculous,” the Republican tells Seven Days.

Hillary Clinton beat Donald Trump, 67 to 19 percent, in Burlington in the November 2016 presidential election.

Vermont U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, who wasn’t running, got 6.6 percent.

One of the 12 city councilors in Burlington is a Republican, but he says he isn’t running for re-election when his current term runs out in 2021.