Rep. Maxine Grad to get Emerge Vermont’s Kunin Award
Aug. 24, 2022 | By Waterbury Roundabout 
Emerge Vermont, the organization that recruits and trains Democratic women to run for office, has announced that state Rep. Maxine Grad, D-Moretown, is the recipient of the 2022 Gov. Madeleine M. Kunin Achievement Award.
Emerge Vermont, the organization that recruits and trains Democratic women to run for office, has announced that state Rep. Maxine Grad, D-Moretown, is the recipient of the 2022 Gov. Madeleine M. Kunin Achievement Award.
Given annually, the award honors Kunin, a former state legislator, ambassador, lieutenant governor, and Vermont’s only woman to serve as governor (1985-1991). Kunin is a founder of the Emerge organization.
The recipients of the award are Democratic Vermont women who have made significant political achievements. Criteria include focusing on mentoring and supporting women in their political, professional, and educational pursuits; working on policies that expand opportunities for others; and showing evidence that their work has an impact on the lives of other Vermonters.
Emerge Vermont cabinet member and former state representative Joan Lenes highlighted some of Grad’s qualifications for the honor: “As both a member and chair of the Judiciary Committee in the Vermont House, Maxine Grad has had an enormous impact on Vermonters. She has worked to protect women and children, establish same-sex marriage, extend reproductive rights, establish gun safety laws, eliminate the ‘panic defense’, and so much more. We are proud she is the recipient of the 2022 Madeleine Kunin Achievement Award.”
Grad is one of two representatives in the Washington-7 House district that covers Duxbury, Moretown, Waitsfield, Fayston and Warren. A member of the House since 2001, she is not seeking re-election this year.
The award will be presented Emerge Vermont’s upcoming Annual Celebration of Women in Politics on Saturday, Sept. 17, at Main Street Landing in Burlington.
Grad is the sixth recipient of the award. Past honorees are: in 2017, former state legislator and Commissioner of Employment and Training Sallie Soule; in 2018, Vermont Treasurer Beth Pearce; in 2019, Jane Stetson, former Democratic National Committee Chair; in 2020, Mary Sullivan, former state legislator and Democratic National Committeewoman; and in 2021, former Speaker of the House Gaye Symington.
In announcing the award, Emerge Vermont Executive Director Elaine Haney called Grad a role model. “Her leadership in passing so much landmark legislation protecting the rights of Vermonters is truly inspiring,” she said.
Launched in 2013, Emerge Vermont offers training programs for Vermont Democratic women to run for elected office. In the Aug. 9 state primary, Emerge counted 48 alumni on ballots around the state with 44 of them winning their races.
Emerge says that more than a third of those who attend trainings go on to run for office or serve on local boards and commissions. It currently counts 55 attendees serving in elected office, 25 of them in the state legislature or statewide office.
More information and tickets for the Sept. 17 event are online at vt.emergeamerica.org.