MIDDLEBURY — Incumbent Sen. Harold Giard, D-Bridport, will have some competition on Aug. 24 in his attempt to win a spot on the general election ballot. East Middlebury Democrat Amy Sheldon confirmed on Monday she will also seek to enter the race via a write-in campaign on primary day.
Giard, a three-term incumbent, missed the June 17 deadline for candidates to file their petition papers for federal, statewide and county offices. That means he — and any other candidate making a belated run for the Nov. 2 general election ballot — will have to garner at least 50 (and a majority) of write-in votes during the Aug. 24 primary.
Sheldon, 43, is a member of the Middlebury Planning Commission. She is a natural resource planner and runs her own local consulting business called “Landslide Inc.” Sheldon was the first executive director of the Middlebury Area Land Trust and held a similar position with the Sharon-based White River Partnership.
Sheldon said she has been considering a run for the Legislature for “a long time.” Asked how Giard’s failure to file on time affected her decision to enter the race, Sheldon replied, “the door was definitely opened by that.”
Plans call for Sheldon to campaign for write-in votes well beyond her home turf of Middlebury.
The top write-in recipient on the Democratic ballot on Aug. 24 will move on to the general election and join the field for Addison County and Brandon’s two state Senate seats. That field currently includes incumbent Sen. Claire Ayer, D-Weybridge, and Orwell Republicans Mark Young and Andrea Ochs.
The Addison Independent will, in the coming weeks, do candidate profiles of Ochs, Young, Sheldon, Giard and other write-in candidates who confirm their intentions prior to the election.
Reporter John Flowers is at [email protected].