This, friends and neighbors, is Ben Brickner, Democratic candidate for state Senate in the Windsor district.

Practically oozes Vermontitude, doesn’t it? Appropriately faded ballcap, fleece quarter-zip, jeans, rurally appropriate dog, outdoorsy backdrop. Touch of gray in the close-cropped beard. His campaign website leans heavily on his service as chair of the Pomfret selectboard. Cool.

But looky here. This is also Ben Brickner.

Tempting to offer a remark about the Hair Club for Men, but that would be mean. So let’s get to the heart of the matter. The bespoke-suited Ben Brickner is a partner in the New York City law firm Person Ferdinand who specializes in “corporate finance, securities, and capital markets transactions,” according to the Pierson website. Pierson is headquartered in NYC but has 18 offices around the United States plus an outpost in London. Kind of a big deal.

You won’t see a hint of that in any of his campaign materials, nor in a flattering story about his candidacy in The Mountain Times.

What’s more, Brickner’s July 1 campaign finance filing is a real eye-opener. He has raised a stunning $65,000 so far, including 18 maximum individual contributions of $1,940 plus another seven gifts of $1,000 or more.

That would have been virtually unprecedented for any state Senate race until 2024, when the Barons of Burlington threw their weight behind several Republican candidates for Senate and, well, Stewart Ledbetter. But I doubt there’s ever been any candidate for any office in Windsor County who’s raised anywhere near $65,000.

If you live in the Windsor district, you should expect a flood of mailings from Team Ben before the August primary. He spent only $12,000 as of July 1, so he’s got more than $50,000 burning a hole in his pocket.

The Windsor district is solid blue territory. There’s a pending vacancy in the three-member delegation because longtime Sen. Alison Clarkson is retiring. Which will throw open the contest for most strikingly dressed lawmaker in the next biennium, but more to the point, it offers a rare opportunity for a Windsor Democrat to grab a Senate seat — and presumably hold onto it for as long as they want.

Update. There’s a sixth Democratic candidate in the primary. I’ve added him to the paragraph below.

In other words, it’s kind of a big deal. Two Democratic incumbents, Becca White and Joe Major, are virtually certain to win nominations in the August primary. Three Four Democrats are presumably duking it out for the third slot on the ticket: state Rep. Elizabeth Burrows of West Windsor, former representative Heather Chase (defeated by the very conservative Tom Charlton in the 2024 wave election), Chris Dube, president of the Professional Firefighters of Vermont, whose website picture looks astonishingly pugnacious…

…and Brickner.

So how shall we slice the bologna? Is Brickner the slick Wall Street lawyer, or the family man who’s found a new home in Pomfret?

Really, he’s both.

He has jumped into his adoptive community with both feet. By all appearances, he has made a strong, positive contribution to his town’s governance. His campaign launch featured appearances by at least three prominent Democrats: Clarkson herself*, current Rep. Charlie Kimbell of Woodstock, (one of Brickner’s $1,940 donors), and former representative Heather Surprenant.

*Update 2.I’ve been told that Clarkson has appeared at other Windsor Senate campaign launches, and will not endorse any of the non-incumbents until after the primary.

Whatever you think about those worthies, their support shouldn’t be discounted. And he has racked up some impressive accomplishments as a town official in Pomfret.

But c’mon, don’t conceal half your identity behind a wardrobe straight out of L.L. Bean. (Or perhaps Ralph Lauren, upon closer examination.) The people of the Windsor district deserve to know all there is to know about the five candidates in the Senate primary. This is a highly consequential election. The winner may well be in the Senate for years (or even decades) to come.

His campaign website is full of the usual Democratic rhetoric with a definite centrist lean. “Affordability” is the first item on his “Issues” page, including a sentence that might have been uttered by Gov. Phil Scott: “It won’t get better until Montpelier starts treating affordability as an obligation, not just a talking point.” If you were hoping for a Becca White-style progressive Dem, then Brickner probably isn’t your guy.

That said, I’m legitimately impressed by Brickner’s obvious dedication to Pomfret. You can make a strong argument that we need more people with deep financial expertise in state government, especially at a time when we’re besieged by challenges and short of money to address them all. Brickner’s knowledge of what it takes to manage a town budget would be a good thing for the Statehouse,

As would his Wall Street smarts. Why not just come out and say, “Look, I’m an expert in corporate finance and I know how to manage money”? That’s not necessarily a bad thing. Just look at Treasurer (and most likely next governor) Mike Pieciak. His financial proficiency and his long tenure in the Phil Scott administration don’t affect the enthusiasm he inspires among Democrats. This is arguably the moment when we need people like Pieciak and Brickner.

Instead, we have two distinct Ben Brickners: The fleece-and-denim clad Vermonter who may be a recent transplant but is clearly dedicated to his community, and the big-city corporate lawyer who’s raised a shitload of money in an attempt to buy a Senate seat. If I were a Windsor Democrat, I’d feel less uneasy about his candidacy if there was only one Ben Brickner on offer.