By Christina Guessferd | Published November 14, 2022
"...With 81 women seated at the 180-person table, Haney says she expects both the Vermont House and Senate to prioritize topics like child care, substance use disorder, paid family leave, mental health care and corrections.
“When it comes down to it, the issues that are facing Vermonters aren’t Republican and Democrat, it’s Vermonters,” said Ashley Bartley, the newly elected representative of Fairfax and Georgia.
Bartley agrees that the significance of women’s successes this November rises above party lines. As a working mom to a 10-month-old daughter and stepmom to a 7-year-old boy, the soon-to-be freshman legislator will be one of nine Republican women in the House to 60 Democratic women and five Progressive women. No Republican women were elected to the Senate, while 12 Democratic women and one Progressive woman won seats.
Bartley is confident that regardless of party affiliation, lawmakers will find common ground through shared, lived experiences.
“I think we can really come together, work together and focus on Vermonters-- what’s affecting other mothers, other grandmothers-- in a way that may not necessarily have been viewed before,” Bartley said..."
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