Emma Mulvaney-Stanak

Emma Mulvaney-Stanak is an American politician, and the current mayor of Burlington, Vermont. Previously, she was a member in the Vermont House of Representatives, representing the Chittenden 6-2 and 17 districts as a member of the Vermont Progressive Party. Prior to her tenure in the state house she was on the city council in Burlington, Vermont and chair of the Vermont Progressive Party.

Mulvaney-Stanak was educated at Smith College. She became involved in politics when she was director of the Vermont Living Wage Campaign and as field director for Scudder Parker's gubernatorial campaign during the 2006 election.

Mulvaney-Stanak was elected to the Burlington city council in 2009, but had to resign due to her moving. She won election to the city council in 2010, and at one point she was the only Progressive member of the city council. She was selected to be chair of the Progressive Party and held that position until 2017. She defeated incumbent state representative Jean O'Sullivan for the Democratic nomination for a seat in the state house and won in the 2020 election.

In 2023, Mulvaney-Stanak announced she would run for the mayorship of Burlington in the following year's election. She won the election by just over 6 points and assumed office on April 1, 2024. She is the first Progressive to serve as mayor of Burlington since 2012, when Bob Kiss left office, and the first woman and openly LGBT person to serve as mayor in the city's history.

Early life and education
Emma Mulvaney-Stanak and her twin were born to Ed Stanak, who later ran for Vermont Attorney General with the Vermont Progressive Party's nomination in 2012, and Joelen Mulvaney. Mulvaney-Stanak graduated from Smith College with a degree in political science. She married Megan Moir, with whom she has two children.

Local and state politics
Mulvaney-Stanak was director of the Vermont Living Wage Campaign. She worked as field director for Scudder Parker's gubernatorial campaign during the 2006 election.

Mulvaney-Stanak was elected to succeed Jane Knodell, a member of the Progressive Party, on the city council from the 2nd district in Burlington, Vermont, with the nomination of the Progressive Party against Democratic nominee Nicole Pelletier. However, she resigned from the city council on December 15, 2009, due to her moving from the 2nd district to the 3rd district which the city charter required her to resign for. Democratic nominee Bram Kranichfeld won election to the city council from the 2nd district in the 2010 election.

Clarence Davis, a member of the Progressive Party, did not seek reelection to the city council from the 3rd district in the 2010 election. Mulvaney-Stanak won in the 2010 election without opposition. She was the only Progressive member of the fourteen-member city council following the resignation of Marisa Caldwell in 2010, which was the lowest amount for the party since 1981. She did not seek reelection in the 2012 election. Rachel Siegel was elected to succeed her in the 2012 election.

Mulvaney-Stanak was selected to be secretary of the Vermont Progressive Party in April 2013. Martha Abbott did not seek reelection as chair of the Vermont Progressive Party. Mulvaney-Stanak was selected to be chair of the party on November 10, 2013, and was reelected in 2015. She resigned as chair on June 9, 2017, to focus on her job working for the Vermont-National Education Association and Anthony Pollina was selected to be interim chair.

Vermont House of Representatives
Mulvaney-Stanak ran for the Progressive and Democratic nomination for a seat in the Vermont House of Representatives from the Chittenden-6-2 district during the 2020 election. She defeated incumbent Democratic Representative Jean O'Sullivan in the Democratic primary and won in the general election without opposition. During the primary O'Sullivan claimed that Mulvaney-Stanak wasn't a real Democrat.

In 2020, Mulvaney-Stanak was selected by a unanimous vote of seven to be assistant chair of the Vermont Progressive Party's caucus in the state house. She was selected to become the caucus' leader on November 21, 2023, with Taylor Small replacing her as assistant leader.

Mayoralty
On October 16, 2023, Mulvaney-Stanak announced her run for mayor of Burlington following Mayor Miro Weinberger stepping down. On March 5, 2024, she won the election by almost 1,000 votes, beating Democratic nominee, Joan Shannon, and assumed the mayoral office on April 1, 2024. Mulvaney-Stanak is the first woman to be mayor of Burlington, as well as the first open member of the LGBTQ+ community to assume the position.

In June 2024, Mulvaney-Stanak was criticized for being the beneficiary of a special food drive which provides her and her family free weekly dinners.