BRATTLEBORO — Voters in Windham County had several contested primary races to vote in in the Aug. 14 Democratic primary.
And the Windham 2-1 House district that encompasses West Brattleboro saw a big win for newcomer Emile Kornheiser, who defeated four-term incumbent Valerie Stuart, 589 to 227.
Kornheiser will be running unopposed on the Nov. 6 ballot.
Speaking at her victory party at American Legion Post 5, Kornheiser thanked her supporters.
“We turned out more people for a primary than we have in a dozen years” she said. “It shows that people want to vote, they want to speak and be heard. We saw so many people today who hadn't voted in years.”
Kornheiser said economic justice is a big part of her agenda for when she gets to the Statehouse, and she is looking forward to bringing the stories of the people of West Brattleboro to the Legislature.
Almost every conversation she said she had with voters revolved around working hard and still not making ends meet.
“People want more than they have, and we can give to them if we all show up together,” she said. “This is the beginning of the Democratic Party stepping up with some real courage to do things differently, because I think people want us to do things differently.”
Balint, White lead incumbent parade
A three-way race for the county's two state senate seats ended with Democratic incumbents Becca Balint of Brattleboro and Jeanette White of Putney cruising to victory over challenger Wayne Estey of Brattleboro.
With all towns reporting, Balint won with 4,697 votes, White garnered 4,308 votes, and Estey was a distant third with 1,076.
There are no Republican challengers to Balint and White in November.
In unopposed House races, newcomer Sara Coffey of Guilford won the Democratic nomination for the Windham-1 district of Vernon and Guilford. Patrick Gilligan of Vernon won the Republican nomination as a write-in candidate.
Also winning as unopposed Democratic incumbents from Brattleboro were Mollie Burke in Windham-2-2 and Tristan Toleno in Windham-2-3.
Carolyn Partridge of Windham and Matt Trieber of Rockingham ran unopposed in Windham-3, Emily Long of Newfane in Windham-5, and John Gannon of Wilmington in Windham-6.
None of these incumbents will face GOP opponents on Nov. 6.
Running unopposed for county offices were incumbents Sheriff Keith Clark, State's Attorney Tracy Kelly Shriver, Probate Judge Jodi French, and Assistant Judges Patricia Duff of Brattleboro and Lamont Barnett of Rockingham.