By Kolby LaMarche

Burlington residents will have a chance to hear directly from City Council candidates in two contested wards during live forums on Town Meeting TV tonight at 5:25 p.m. 

The forums, hosted at the TMTV studio at 294 N. Winooski Ave., will allow viewers to call in questions at 802-862-3966 or attend in person. 

The first candidates set to debate are Ward 7’s incumbent Democrat Evan Litwin, facing Progressive challenger and newcomer Bill Standen at 5:25 PM. Last week, BDN covered Standen’s launch and fiery comments at a council meeting. 

At 6:10, the second forum follows: Ward 8, pitting incumbent Progressive Marek Broderick against Democrat Ryan Nick. 

Nick, a Justice of the Peace and member of the city’s Planning Commission, is mounting a bid to unseat Broderick in a ward that has oscillated between Democratic and Progressive control in recent years. 

The district, home to many University of Vermont students, could prove challenging for Nick, who previously ran unsuccessfully for Ward 2, held at the time by Progressive Max Tracy, in 2020. 

Broderick, Burlington’s youngest-ever councilor elected at age 21, has strong ties to student activism and the Green Mountain Democratic Socialists. To win in Burlington’s Ward 8, you’ve got to win, or at least try to win, the vote of students at and from UVM. Broderick has been largely successful on this front, recently winning students a victory over housing conditions.

Nick, a long-time Burlington Democrat who has run against a Progressive before, has chosen in recent weeks to pitch himself on-par with being (lower-case)-progressive. Some in the student population, however, aren’t buying it.

Candidates in or near UVM often have a difficult time reaching students in the way they would an average resident. UVM does not allow soliciting, or door knocking. Some candidates in the past have done so, despite the rules. But many take the opportunity to post flyers in designated areas. 

Nick and Broderick have both done this, though only one has seemingly been vandalized. 

Nick has, in his signage, latched onto an escalating issue in Burlington: ICE. Many of his posters, seen below, include language about getting “ICE OUT”, achieving lower rents, and stabilizing the housing market.    

According to a student witness, who wished to remain anonymous, Nick’s posters have – in some areas – been torn down or had written on them “literally a landlord!”.  

The University has a policy that prohibits the removal of approved flyers from spaces. 

In Ward 7, the New North End race pits Litwin, first elected in 2024, against Standen. 

Litwin cites a focus on housing, public safety, and good governance in his reelection bid.

Standen, a 2020 Champlain College graduate, stirred controversy at a recent City Council meeting with comments on the Israel-Gaza conflict. “The only people that still conflate Judaism with the apartheid are Zionists and Nazis,” Standen said, prompting interruption from Council President Ben Traverse . 

These races could shift the balance on the 12-member council, where Progressives and Democrats vie for dominance to support, or hinder, Progressive Mayor Mulvaney-Stanak’s agenda.

Town Meeting Day is March 3rd. Burlington Daily News will have direct coverage of the candidates and their platform.