VOTE PEARSON - Biography

Biography

I moved to Burlington to attend UVM in the fall of 1991 right after my friend and I rode our bikes from Seattle to my hometown of Bar Harbor, Maine. It was a great experience and a good transition to independence. In 1995 I graduated with a BA in Psychology.

After traveling for a while I ended up back in Burlington waiting tables and bartending at the VT Pub & Brewery. Did you know, when the Pub opened in 1988 they had to lobby the Legislature for permission to serve locally brewed beer to customers? Apparently we still had prohibition laws on the books. Thanks to that change Vermont now has more microbreweries per capita than all but one state (Oregon).

In 1998 I was looking to get out of the restaurant scene where I had worked on and off since the age of 14. That’s when I connected with Bernie Sanders who needed help with his re-election campaign to Congress. Working for Bernie I traveled the state accompanying one of our most fascinating political figures. I learned a lot from Bernie and am honored to have his support in this election.

In 2000 I started working with the Progressive Party which lead Seven Days columnist Peter Freyne to name me one of the 25 most influential figures in Vermont politics. In 2004 I coordinated the Progressive House races and we managed to elect four new members, including Winston Dowland who defeated Nancy Sheltra. Sheltra was a member of the so-called “six-pack,” a group of ultra-conservative members from the Newport area. She was a vocal opponent of a woman’s right to choose, equal rights for gay families and more. It was a gratifying victory.

In 2004 I met Lacey Richards at the Bonnaroo music festival in Tennessee. She lived in Washington DC at the time so our courtship relied on nighttime cell minutes and the brief presence of Independence Air to get us back and forth cheaply every few weeks.

In 2006 Lacey moved to Burlington and last summer we got married. Lacey teaches social studies at CVU. I am lucky to have her as a partner and deeply appreciate her tolerance for my work in the rough and tumble reality of politics.

I am now an organizer for National Popular Vote. We are working through the states to fix our broken electoral college system and replace it with a straight popular vote. When every vote is equal in presidential elections then a vote in Vermont will count just as much as a vote in Florida.