Longtime housing advocate and VT senate candidate Erhard Mahnke says housing touches every issue

Photo courtesy of Erhard Mahnke.

In Erhard Mahnke’s mind, housing affects everything. That’s why the longtime housing advocate thinks he’s a strong candidate for the new Chittenden Central Senate District.

“Due to my work in housing, it has allowed me to see the connections between all of our social needs, as well as our environmental needs,” said Mahnke, who described dealing with housing as the central piece of his political career. 

Mahnke, who works for U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., is running among four other candidates as a Progressive and a Democrat for the new Senate district. The district encompasses Winooski, Burlington, and Essex Junction. 

Mahnke has earned endorsements from Vermont House members Reps. Hal Colston, D-Winooski and Taylor Small, P/D-Winooski. Sanders supported his previous state senate campaign two years ago but has not yet endorsed Mahnke’s current run. 

Mahnke’s political career began in the 1980s, he said, when he first worked for Sanders, at the time Burlington mayor. He was inspired by the future presidential candidate and ran Winooski’s Community Development Department in the ‘80s and early ‘90s.  

“I helped renovate well over 100 to 150 homes for Winooski seniors, for low-income renters … and brought federal funding into the city,” he said. “So I also helped build Winooski into what it is today.”

Mahnke said he is running largely because of the COVID-19 pandemic. He argued that the Senate needs experience and said he brings more than 20 years of statehouse advocacy experience. 

“I would be able to hit the ground running when I get to the Senate and be effective from day one for Chittenden County residents and for Vermonters,” he said. 

Mahnke said he is also a strong advocate for racial justice in Vermont. Mahnke, a white immigrant, has a Black son, and his experience as a father trying to help his son navigate racial disparities in Vermont has largely informed his politics, according to his website.

“Having raised an African American son here in very white Vermont has really helped to inform my thoughts, my experiences, my understanding of what new Americans experience when it comes to the United States,” he said. 

Mahnke said he and his son both testified on a racial and ethnic studies bill that ensured that Vermonters are educated on the history of African Americans and other marginalized groups. 

He said Vermont’s criminal justice system should be reformed and that officials should take a hard look at how it discriminates against Black people. Another way to support communities of color, he said, is through housing.

“One way to do that is through housing and through homeownership that is targeted for both new Americans as well as for African Americans, who are disproportionately affected by governmental policies,” he said. 

Because of the disproportionate number of New Americans and African Americans struggling with housing, Mahnke argued anything done for affordable housing would improve their lives. He said that improving affordable housing for larger families would help those groups.

“New American families tend to be larger and need three- and four-bedroom (homes),” he said. “So that is one thing that I would hope to work on.”