Al Turkos (they/them) has spent more than a decade making change in places that resist it most. a Winooski neighbor and community leader, Al is now running to represent Winooski as a state representative.
Al’s advocacy has spanned survivor justice, reproductive rights, impact litigation, corporate accountability, and local government. Through this work, Al has helped turn lived experience and a deep commitment to community into policy, public pressure, and real change.
Born and raised in Vermont, Al graduated from Plymouth State University in New Hampshire before spending more than a decade living, working, and organizing in New York City.
In New York, Al built a national reputation as a survivor advocate after being kidnapped at gunpoint and sexually assaulted by their Lyft driver and 2 other men in 2017. After seeing firsthand how system after system failed them and so many other survivors, Al refused to stay silent. They worked with fellow survivors to help pass the Adult Survivors Act. This landmark legislation gave survivors a pathway to file civil lawsuits against the people and institutions that harmed them. Al also founded the NYPD Survivor Support Group, whose advocacy helped contribute to the Department of Justice’s 2022 investigation into the NYPD Special Victims Division.
Al has also spent years in the reproductive health, rights, and justice movement, working to expand access to abortion and contraception in the U.S. and Latin America. From managing grants and operations at the Women’s Equality Center to serving on the steering committee of the All* Above All Action Fund and the board of the New York Abortion Access Fund, Al has fought to make bodily autonomy and basic health care more accessible to the people who need it most.
Since returning home to Vermont and building a life and family in Winooski, Al has been dedicated to showing up locally. They currently serve on the Winooski City Council and as the city’s representative on the Burlington Airport Commission. Al also regularly volunteers at the Winooski food shelf and in support of immigrant safety and rights, and is an organizing member of the Winooski Neighborhood Group (WiNG), which works to strengthen connection, safety, and civic life across the city.
Al is running because Winooski is their home, and our neighbors deserve practical, values-driven representation in Montpelier. They believe state government should work the way Winooski does when it is at its best: people paying attention, stepping up, and making sure no one gets left behind.
Al lives in Winooski with their wife, Liz, their dog, Milo, and an awful lot of plants.
