Who Votes for a Socialist Mayor?: The Case of Burlington, Vermont

The above quip refers to Burlington, Vermont, where two months before Socialist Francois Mitterrand captured the French Presidency, Socialist Bernard Sanders was elected mayor. Sanders, a professed Socialist running as an independent, defeated five-term Democratic Mayor Gordon Pauquette by a mere ten votes in March 1981.1 In a period of conservative political gains elsewhere across the country, this victory shocked many in the long-time Democratic city of 37,000, and attracted nationwide press attention.2 Many observers saw Sanders' victory not as an endorsement of the new mayor or his progressive policies, but as a vote against his opponent, who had been accused of turning his back on traditional Democratic constituencies in favor of the city's business leaders. However, the 1983 election seemed to put this theory to rest. Sanders won a second term by a wide margin, polling 52.8 percent of the vote, compared to 30.7 percent for Democrat Judith Stephany and 16.5 percent for Republican James Gilson. Any time a Socialist wins an election in the United States it is an anomaly. To be sure, various Socialist parties have enjoyed periods of