Dieng wins special election for BTV council seat

Jess Aloe | Burlington Free Press

Show Caption Hide Caption Ali Dieng wins Ward 7 special election NNE voters pick Ali Dieng to replace Tom Ayres for City Council on June 27, 2017

Ali Dieng, a Democrat and a Progressive, defeated Republican Vince Dober for a seat on Burlington's City Council.

In daylong balloting Tuesday in a special election in Ward 7, Dieng received 610 votes to Dober's 302. Results were tallied minutes after the polls closed at 7 p.m.

Other independent candidates trailed far behind. Ellie Blais received 47 votes, and Chris Trombly, 29.

Dieng won 62 percent of the vote, earning a higher margin than his Democratic predecessor, Tom Ayres, did in either of his two elections. Ayres won in 2013 and 2015 by less than 100 votes.

Thomas Fleury, the Ward 7 clerk, said 989 residents turned out to cast votes, including absentee ballots and early voting.

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The number is slightly higher than the 969 reported by the ward in the March Town Meeting Day election.

Dieng will have to run again in March 2018, but Tuesday evening, he and his supporters were focused on honoring his win.

"This is a day of celebration," he said.

The group of supporters who gathered at the Robert Miller Center in the New North End were in high spirits before the polls closed. Even as thunder and pounding rain broke out in the last hour as voters poured in, they cheered and waved signs.

Dieng said he was not surprised by his large margin of victory. Earlier Tuesday, he said he had been feeling confident going into the final moments of the election.

The four candidates pitched themselves to New North Enders as the replacement for Ayres, who has served as the ward's councilor since 2013.

The candidates offered voters a range of backgrounds and experiences.

Dieng, a West African-born community organizer, won the endorsement of Sen. Bernie Sanders' Our Revolution, a group dedicated to supporting grassroots progressive candidates.

His election makes him the only New American and non-white Burlingtonian on the City Council.

Dober, a previous city councilor who was supported by the Burlington Republicans, described himself as a fiscal conservative.

Trombly, who lost out on the Democratic endorsement to Dieng, said he was focused on issues such as senior affordability.

Blais served as the ward's first councilor when the current boundaries were drawn up. She said she ran again to push to give the residents of the New North End a voice in city politics.

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Ayres announced his resignation from the Burlington City Council in April, after accepting a new job in Randolph.

The new councilor soon will cast a crucial vote for his neighborhood: The controversial North Avenue Pilot Project is expected to come before the council next month. Dieng described himself as a supporter.

Contact Jess Aloe at 802-660-1874 or jaloe@freepressmedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @jess_aloe