Madeleine Kunin, the first Jew and first woman to serve as governor of Vermont, has announced that she will not run for a fourth two-year term.
Kunin, a 56-year-old Democrat, made the announcement Tuesday in Montpelier, the state capital.
She was born in Switzerland and came to the United States in 1940 with her widowed mother and older brother. Before entering politics, she worked as a reporter for a Burlington newspaper and in television.
The only other Jew presently serving as governor, Neal Goldschmidt, also has announced he will not seek re-election, after serving one four-year term as Oregon’s chief executive. He formerly served as mayor of Portland and as secretary of transportation in the Carter administration.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.