Background William H. Meyer, a member of the
Democratic Party, was elected to the
United States House of Representatives from
Vermont's at-large congressional district after defeating
Republican nominee
Harold J. Arthur in the
1958 election. Meyer's victory was the first time since the 1853 election that the Republicans had lost a statewide election in Vermont. Meyer was the most left-wing member of Congress from 1937 to 2002, according to
Keith T. Poole. He lost reelection in the
1960 election against Republican nominee
Robert Stafford. Meyer formed the
Liberty Union Party at a meeting in his home with
Peter Diamondstone, Dennis Morrisseau, and twenty other people on June 27, 1970. Martha Abbott, a future chair of the Vermont Progressive Party, was one of the members of the Liberty Union Party's founding meeting.
Bernie Sanders joined the party in 1971, and was selected to serve as the party's candidate for a
Senatorial special election at his first meeting. During his time in the party, Sanders also ran for
United States Senate in the
1974 election and for
Governor in the
1972 and
1976 elections. Sanders left the Liberty Union Party on October 11, 1977.
Progressive Coalition Sanders as the Independent Coalition during his
1981 mayoral campaign and then as the Progressive Coalition during his
tenure as mayor. On November 8, 1980, Sanders announced that he would run for mayor of
Burlington, Vermont, in the
1981 election and formally announced his campaign on December 16, at a press conference in city hall. Sanders had been convinced to run for the mayoralty by
Richard Sugarman, an Orthodox Jewish scholar at the
University of Vermont, who had shown Sanders a ward-by-ward breakdown of the 1976 gubernatorial election which showed Sanders receiving 12% of the vote in Burlington despite only getting 6% statewide. Sanders defeated incumbent Democratic Mayor
Gordon Paquette by ten votes in the election. Sanders was reelected as mayor in the
1983,
1985, and
1987 elections. During his mayoral campaign, Sanders formed the Independent Coalition which according to Richard Sartelle was to bring working people, students, college faculty, union members, and all independent-minded citizens together. Sartelle ran with the support of the Independent Coalition for a seat on the city council from the 4th district, but was defeated by the Republican nominee. Following his victory in the 1981 election, Sanders faced difficulties with the city council; this was because 11 of the 13 members of the board of alderman opposing Sanders. The council would oppose measures proposed by Sanders and override his vetoes on legislation. Bouricius and Sadie White were the only members of the city council aligned with Sanders. During the 1982 elections, Sanders endorsed Citizens nominees Richard Musty and Zoe Breiner, and independent candidate Gary DeCarolis for city council and all of them won causing the council to have five pro-Sanders members, five Republican members, and three Democratic members. However, the Republicans and Democratic members of the city council united to select Robert Paterson, a Republican, as president of the city council instead of Sadie White, a Sanders supporter, by a vote of eight to five after six ballots and to prevent the pro-Sanders members of the city council from receiving positions. Sanders stated that "Probably the Democrats feel more comfortable dealing with the Republicans than with us". DeCarolis asked for members of the media to refer to him and other pro-Sanders members of the city council as the Progressive Coalition rather than as just Sanders supporters. An organizational meeting for Progressive Coalition, which was attended by over 100 people, was held on November 10, 1983. The Progressive Coalition was not a political party, but an organization that gave out endorsements. During the 1984 elections, the Citizens Party only ran one candidate under its name and instead endorsed the Progressive Coalition candidates. Bouricius stated that the Citizens Party was the core of the coalition, but that the coalition was being built broader than the Citizens Party. The Progressive Coalition gained one seat from the Democratic Party during the 1984 city council elections bringing the composition of the city council to six Progressive members, five Republican members, and two Democratic members. The Citizens Party of Vermont disbanded in 1986. The Progressive Coalition supported
Jesse Jackson during the
1984 Democratic presidential primaries and later supported
Walter Mondale in the
presidential election in the state. Bouricius was selected to serve as president of the city council after thirty-one ballots and served until 1985. Bouricius was the only member of the Progressive Coalition to serve as president during
Sanders' administration. After the 1985 elections William Skelton, a Republican member of the city council, was selected to serve as president of the city council against the Progressive-backed Zoe Breiner as Bouricius had dropped out.
Clavelle The Vermont Progressive Alliance was formed by members of the Progressive Coalition and Rainbow Coalition on May 19, 1990, at
Montpelier High School and inspired by the
New Democratic Party. The organization endorsed ten independent candidates for seats in the state legislature in the 1990 election.
Terry Bouricius and
Tom Smith, who were endorsed by the organization, were elected to the
Vermont House of Representatives in the 1990 election becoming the first member of the Progressive Coalition to do so. The Vermont Organizing Committee was formed by the organization in 1992. The Franklin County Independent Coalition was also formed in 1990, to support Sanders' campaign for a seat in the United States House of Representatives during the
1990 election. The organization was founded by independent candidates for seats in the state house and Neil Bean, who was an independent member of the
St. Albans city council and also grew out of Jeff Weaver's campaign for mayor of St. Albans and Jerry Colby's 1988 and 1990 campaigns for a seat in the
Vermont Senate. The Progressives regained control of the city council in 1994, with five of their members winning and three independents caucusing with them. The coalition expanded to
Brattleboro, Vermont, with Shoshana Rihn's election to the town's select board in 1998. Rihn was sworn in, but was removed from office after a recount reported her losing by two votes.
Vermont Progressive Party Clavelle The coalition started holding caucuses in 25 towns in October 1999, to form a political party. The Vermont Progressive Party was formally created after organizing in sixteen communities and held its first convention on July 9, 2000.
Anthony Pollina received the party's gubernatorial nomination for the
2000 election and received 9.6% of the vote, more than the 5% needed for major party status.
Kiss Post-Kiss Emma Mulvaney-Stanak was the only Progressive member of the 14-member city council following the resignation of Marisa Caldwell in 2010, which was the lowest number for the party since 1981. The party ran and received its highest number of candidates, votes, and share of seats in the state house in the 2016 election with seven out of twenty candidates winning with a combined total of 18,954 votes. The 2022 elections, in which the party lost two state house and one state senate seat, resulted in the entire Progressive delegation being solely from Chittenden County for the first time since 2004. Zuckerman returned to the lieutenant governorship in the
concurrent election. ==Platform==