Sarah Copeland-Hanzas

Sarah Louise Copeland-Hanzas was born in Lake Forest, Illinois on July 9, 1970[3] and her family moved to Vermont in 1971.[4] She grew up in Corinth and graduated from Bradford's Oxbow High School in 1988.[5] She then attended the University of Vermont from which she received a Bachelor of Arts in history in 1992 and a Bachelor of Arts in geology in 1993.[3] In 1995, she completed her teaching certification at Upper Valley Educators Institute in Lebanon, New Hampshire.[4]

After becoming qualified as a teacher, Copeland-Hanzas instructed secondary science in several Upper Connecticut River Valley public schools and at Valley Vista residential treatment center in Bradford.[4] Beginning in 2010, she owned a small business in Bradford, the Local Buzz Cafe, which she operated until she closed it in 2021.[6]

In 2004, Copeland-Hanzas was elected to the Vermont House of Representatives.[3] She was reelected every two years through 2020, and served from January 2005 to January 2023.[4] During her House service, Copeland-Hanzas was a member of the Health Care Committee and chair of the Government Operations Committee.[4] From 2015 to 2017, she was the majority leader.[7] While in the house, she also served on the Executive Committee of the National Conference of State Legislatures.[4]

In 2022, Copeland-Hanzas was a candidate for the Democratic nomination for secretary of state.[7] In the August primary, she defeated deputy secretary of state Chris Winters and Montpelier city clerk John Odum; Copeland-Hanzas received 43 percent of the vote to 41 for Winters and 16 for Odum.[8] In the November general election, she defeated perennial Republican candidate H. Brooke Paige by a vote of 61 to 33 percent.[9] She was sworn in for the beginning of her term in January 2023.[10]

Copeland is married to John P. Hanzas Jr.[3] They reside in Bradford and are the parents of three daughters.[3]