About — Katherine Sims for Vermont

Katherine is a community leader, mother, small business owner and champion of all things rural Vermont.

Meet Katherine

EARLY YEARS
Katherine grew up outside of Boston and spent her summers gardening with her grandparents in Vermont. Her earliest memories of Vermont’s idyllic countryside are of wandering through the woods behind their house and swimming in the pond all day. As the years went by, she watched with sadness as the farms on Old Farm Road were replaced by office parks and box stores.

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FINDING HER PLACE
At age twenty, Katherine moved to Butterworks Farm in Westfield and was transported back to those early joy-filled memories of wide-open spaces and community living. She knew she’d found her place, her people. She began bringing people together to get things done in our communities.

After planting her first school garden at Jay Westfield Elementary, Katherine and a group of teachers and farmers founded Green Mountain Farm-to-School. The organization brings agricultural education to children while delivering millions of dollars in local food to schools and institutions in the Northeast Kingdom.

MAKING A DIFFERENCE
In 2013, Katherine married Jeff, a carpenter and historic building enthusiast. While the two made plans for a family, Katherine continued to tackle pressing issues in the region with diverse groups, from farmers and parents to small business owners and town leaders.

By the time her second son was born, Katherine and her growing professional network had:

Organized 22 NEK towns to launch NEK Broadband
Established a new child care center in Craftsbury
Launched NEK Day at the Statehouse
Helped conserve Bluffside Farm in Newport
Secured over $400K for outdoor recreation in our region

REPRESENTING THE PEOPLE
In 2020, retiring representative Sam Young encouraged Katherine to run for his seat in the House. She jumped at the opportunity to make a bigger impact in the region she loves. She ran a home-grown campaign and snagged the seat, quickly becoming known for working across the aisle to get things done for her district.

As a state representative, she’s working to ensure our communities have good jobs, thriving local businesses and access to the things we need to raise our families and live the good life. Since winning her first election in 2020, Katherine has:

Secured funding to bring high-speed broadband to every corner of the Kingdom
Championed Act 250 reform to address the housing crisis
Led the passage of the most significant support for our forest economy in recent history
Fought to fix education funding so that our children have the opportunities they deserve
Helped transform our childcare system to make it more affordable and accessible

Katherine lives in Craftsbury with Jeff and her two boys, Wyatt and Hayden. In the off-session, she tends the flowers on a farm in her neighborhood.

In the House, Katherine has led the charge to make policies, programs and funding work for residents of the Northeast Kingdom. Now she's running for Senate so she can do more for our communities.