Vermont State Senator Kesha Ram Hinsdale Wins Democratic Primary From Chittenden Southeast District
- The 38-year-old daughter of an Indian immigrant father from Punjab and a Jewish American mother became the first woman of color elected to the Vermont State Senate in 2020.
Vermont State Senator Kesha Ram Hinsdale has advanced to the November general election, after winning the Aug. 13 Democratic primary, along with State Sens. Ginny Lyons and Thomas Chittenden. Ram Hinsdale came in third in the district, with 5,440 votes, according to the Burlington Free Press.
“Vermont, you got all my love,” Ram Hinsdale posted on Facebook. “Thank you for your support in the primary and onward to November!”
Ram Hinsdale became the first woman of color elected to the Vermont State Senate in 2020. She was re-elected in 2022.
Vermont is already the whitest state in the country, with more than 94 percent of the state’s population being white. In Chittenden County, which Ram Hinsdale represents in the state Senate, this number falls to 90.3 percent.
The 38-year-old daughter of an Indian immigrant father from Punjab and a Jewish American mother, Ram Hinsdale has broken numerous barriers throughout her career as a social scientist, legislator, equity consultant, and leader. She was 22 when she was first elected to the Vermont House of Representatives in 2008, becoming the youngest person ever elected. She served in the body until 2016 when she left her seat to run in the Democratic primary for lieutenant governor. She lost out to David Zuckerman, a Progressive and Democrat who ultimately won the election.
Ram Hinsdale graduated from the University of Vermont with a Bachelor of Science in Natural Resources Planning and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science. While in school, she was a member of Slade, a student-run ecological cooperative. She took a sabbatical from politics after she lost the 2016 Democratic primary race for lieutenant governor. The respite from politics gave her time to attend the Harvard Kennedy School and reevaluate what matters to her, she has said in previous interviews.
Ram Hinsdale is married to Jacob Hinsdale. The couple lives in Shelburne, with their toddler Mira, and their dog Miso.