Wolk makes Vermont history as first independent elected to state Senate

This story by Katy Savage was first published in the Mountain Times on Nov. 11, 2026.

In May, Dave Wolk returned to a workplace he hadn’t seen in over 30 years, and it felt like a homecoming.

He visited the Senate chamber, where he served 34 years ago, after dropping off the signatures needed to get his name on the November ballot at the secretary of state’s office.

Much of the chamber looked as he remembered it, from the furniture and decor to the desk where he once sat. Inside, Wolk found his son’s signature, written there when his son was just 8 years old.

“They allow you to have your kids write their names inside the desk, and my son is now 46, so he was 8 years old then,” Wolk recalled. “I sat there and I felt like I was at home.”

At the time, Wolk didn’t know whether voters would send him back to Montpelier.

Six months later, they did.

Wolk, 73, made Vermont political history on Election Day, becoming the first independent candidate elected to the state Senate. The former Democratic senator, who served from 1988 to 1992, defeated Republican incumbent Terry Williams to claim one of Rutland County’s three Senate seats, finishing second in the four-way race with 14,259 votes.

Williams finished fourth with 11,190 votes. Days before the election, Williams was arrested and charged with domestic assault after allegedly striking a relative in the face during an argument over chores at his Poultney home.

Wolk will serve with Republican Brian Collamore, who led the field with 15,755 votes, and Republican David Weeks, who finished third with 13,319 votes. 

Wolk’s return to the Statehouse will be different this time. He’s heading back without a political party behind him — and that’s exactly how he wants it.

“You don’t want to be beholden to anyone except for voters,” he said.

Wolk ran an unconventional campaign. He refused contributions from political action committees, lobbyists and lawyers who represent lobbyists. He also never directly asked anyone for a donation.

Instead, individuals contributed $23,214 to his campaign.

“I was grateful that a lot of people sent enough money in to run a campaign,” he said.

For Wolk, running as an independent was about more than campaign financing. He said he wanted the freedom to vote according to his constituents’ interests rather than the demands of party leadership.

Wolk said conversations with Republican and Democratic lawmakers reinforced that decision. Some told him they had felt pressured to support legislation favored by party leaders, even when they personally disagreed.

Wolk also said he has grown frustrated with the increasingly confrontational tone of politics.

“I have felt it more acutely in the last few years that I’ve seen more people try to lift themselves up by tearing other people down, and it doesn’t work,” he said.

Running without a party affiliation, he said, has been liberating.

“I know who I’m beholden to, and it’s not a political party, and it’s not a political action committee, it’s not a lobbyist, not a lawyer. It’s for the people I represent,” he said.

Wolk’s election marks another chapter in a public service career spanning more than five decades and all three branches of Vermont government.

Wolk is a Middlebury College graduate. He began his career in education in the 1970s as a teacher and guidance counselor at Mount St. Joseph Academy in Rutland.

He later earned a master’s degree from the University of Vermont and pursued graduate studies at Harvard before returning to Vermont, where he became principal of Barstow Memorial School in Chittenden.

In 1988, he was elected to the Vermont Senate as a Democrat, serving two terms before running for lieutenant governor in 1992. He lost that race to Republican Barbara Snelling.

Wolk then returned to education, serving as principal of Rutland High School and later as superintendent. He went on to become Vermont’s commissioner of education for two years. He then spent 16 years as president of what is now Castleton University.

During his tenure he ushered in a $25.7 million initiative that included the multipurpose Spartan Stadium — now named Dave Wolk Stadium. That investment in athletics increased participation rates fivefold and increased the offerings to 28 varsity programs.

Most recently, he served as an assistant judge in Rutland County.

Even after leaving those positions, Wolk has remained involved in public service. He has operated a leadership coaching business and served as a guardian ad litem, a court-appointed advocate who represents children’s interests in legal proceedings.

He admits that stepping away from work has never been easy.

“I failed retirement,” he joked.

Wolk said he doesn’t have hobbies outside of public service.

“I’m sort of addicted to public service,” he said. “I love it. I feel a kind of sense of purpose.”

During his campaign, Wolk met with local boards and heard concerns about deteriorating roads and bridges and rising education and property taxes.

Wolk said public safety was among the issues that came up most frequently, particularly concerns about repeat offenders who commit property crimes and fail to appear in court.

Wolk wants to change Vermont law to give judges additional tools to address repeat offenders who consistently miss court appearances.

Wolk said the goal is to address what he sees as a revolving door for people repeatedly accused of misdemeanor property crimes, including thefts from stores and break-ins involving homes and vehicles.

He said the issue affects the quality of life in communities.

When Wolk returns to the Senate in January, he’ll be entering a chamber that looks much as it did more than three decades ago. But he’s less certain about how much the political atmosphere has changed.

During his first two terms, Wolk remembers lawmakers from opposing parties working together despite their disagreements. He hopes to find that same spirit of cooperation when he returns.

“The decorum back then was bipartisan or nonpartisan, and it was collegial, friendly, civil,” Wolk said. “I’m not saying it’s not that way now, but I’m going to be curious about that.”

Read the story on VTDigger here: Wolk makes Vermont history as first independent elected to state Senate.