West announces candidacy for state Legislature
MANCHESTER — Following State Rep. Kathleen James’s announcement last week that she would not be running for another term representing the Bennington-4 district in the state Legislature, one candidate has so far emerged to seek the Democratic Party’s nomination in the upcoming August primary elections.
Thomas West, who currently serves as the Vice-Chair of the Manchester Planning Commission, and who is also a Justice of the Peace, announced on Thursday that he was throwing his hat into the ring to succeed James in the Statehouse.
In an announcement of his candidacy released Thursday, West stated his campaign would be focused on the realities facing rural communities across the district, which includes the towns of Arlington, Manchester, Sandgate, and part of Sunderland, emphasizing housing, affordability, and the rising cost of education driven by property taxes.
“I’m running because I believe public service should start with a simple question,” West stated in his announcement. “What do families actually need to build a good life? In this district, the challenges we’re facing are showing up in real ways—in whether families can stay here, whether their property tax bill is pushing them out, and whether people can see a future for themselves in the place they call home.”
In a conversation with The Journal, West also spoke about how his work with The Collaborative, a non-profit organization based in Londonderry which promotes healthy communities and substance-free youth, and as a member of Manchester’s Planning Commission and also the Southwest Vermont Regional Technical School District’s board of directors, influenced his decision to run for the state Legislature.
“I've been able to really get to see pretty clearly what families are up against,” he said. “And honestly, I'm hearing the same things over and over again, wherever I go, regardless of the conversation. And I'm sure this won't be surprising to hear, but housing, it's almost entirely about housing and property taxes, right? So housing is getting harder to find, property taxes keep going up, and wages just aren't keeping pace.”
Housing intersected with all the other primary issues facing the state, such as affordability and education, and it would be hard to solve others if housing remained expensive and in short supply, he said.
In recent years, the state Legislature has grappled with revising Act 250, the state’s more than 50 year-old land use statute, and has sought ways to incentivize more home building. Both Act 181, passed in 2024, which overhauled Vermont’s planning framework for coordinating state, regional and municipal land use, and the HOME Act, enacted in 2023 and which was designed to amend Act 250 and other laws to enable new opportunities for housing development, “came from a good place,” West said.
“I think that Vermonters care deeply about our land, the environment, and as we know, especially lately in the news, we've been hearing about, here in Manchester, the character of our community and the buildings, and specifically some of the historic buildings,” he said. “That shouldn't just be a Vermont value, that should be a value that everyone holds, that everyone shares. And on top of that, throwing a lot of hands out, that's what makes this part of Vermont, at least for me, incredibly special. But, at the same time, I think we have to be honest about where we are right now. The system that we have created today makes it too hard, too slow, and just too expensive to build the homes that we all know are needed, especially in the places where the average person thinks that they make the most sense.”
It should be possible to protect the environment and build needed homes, he added.
The overall goal would be make the district, as well as the state as a whole, a place where working families could afford to live, find jobs, and plan to stay long-term, he said.
After James announced she would not be a candidate for what would have been a fifth term in the Statehouse if she was successful in the November elections, West said he thought more about what stepping up to serve in the Legislature would mean, and discussed it further with family members, he said. His husband, Jonathan West, is the chair of the Bennington County Democratic Committee. They have four adopted children.
According to his candidate announcement, he is currently a project manager at The Collaborative, where he helps coordinate regional efforts to support substance use prevention and community well-being across Bennington, Windham, Windsor, and southern Orange counties.
West served five years in the United States Army as a Russian cryptologic linguist. He studied the Russian language at the Defense Language Institute at the Presidio of Monterey, Calif. His final duty station was Fort Meade, Maryland, where his unit supported national intelligence operations.
Bennington-4 is a two-member district, currently represented by Kathleen James and Rob Hunter, who is serving his first term in the Statehouse. The primary election will be held Tuesday, Aug. 11.
West said he planned for an active campaign and to get out and meet voters across all four towns in the district, he said.
“This campaign is about showing up and doing the work,” West stated in his campaign kickoff announcement. “Listening, being present, and building something together—a future where rural families have a fair shot, where people feel like they belong, and where leadership meets this moment with urgency and hope.”
For more information: westforvermont.com
Andrew McKeever Journal Correspondent
