WOODSTOCK — After 22 years in the state legislature, including four as Senate Majority Leader, State Sen. Alison Clarkson announced her impending retirement this weekend.
Clarkson, D-Windsor, announced her decision during the Reading, Vt. Town Meeting on Saturday. It’s the town where she held her first campaign event in 2004, she said in a recording of her speech posted online by State Sen. Becca White, D-Windsor.
“Serving you has been the honor of a lifetime,” Clarkson said in an address. “Thank you. Thank you for sending me to Montpelier to represent you and to advocate for you. Thank you for trusting me to make decisions on your behalf. Mostly, thank you for the gift of getting to know you.”
Clarkson, of Woodstock, was first elected to represent Woodstock, Plymouth and Reading in the state House of Representatives in 2005.
She spent four years on the House Judiciary Committee and eight years on the Ways and Means Committee before securing her state Senate seat in 2016.
From 2021 to 2025, Clarkson served as senate majority leader, a role as she lost after Republican gains ground in the chamber in the 2024 cycle.
Clarkson currently serves as chairperson of the Senate Committee on Economic Development, Housing and General Affairs. She is a member of the Senate Committee on Government Operations and is chairperson of the Senate Sexual Harassment Prevention Panel.
Clarkson plans to continue her public service work outside of the Legislature, she said Monday. She is already working on a project to help reestablish a culinary institute in Vermont and is interested in advocating for and supporting children in Vermont’s court system.