-With Democrats otherwise sweeping the statewide races amid a massive nationwide political rout in Tuesday’s midterm general election, Vermont’s incumbent Republican governor was re-elected to his sixth term.
Gov. Phil Scott withstood a determined challenge from Democratic/Progressive candidate Amanda Janoo, an economist from Burlington.
With 98% of the votes statewide counted at press time, Scott had a 52.4%–46.7% lead on Janoo. Scott had 160,813 votes to Janoo’s 140,665.
Bucking her statewide performance, Janoo earned 61% of the votes in Windham County to Scott’s 39%, with all county towns reporting by early Wednesday morning. She carried Brattleboro, Dummerston, Guilford, Jamaica, Marlboro, Putney, Rockingham, Townshend, and Westminster.
Scott won in Athens, Dover, Londonderry, Vernon, Wilmington, Whitingham, and Windham.
Polls predicted that Janoo would flip the governor’s race, which brought a surge of advertising from out-of-state entities.
“I know we didn’t quite get the outcome that we had hoped for, and I’m not going to pretend like I’m not disappointed in this moment,” Janoo said in her concession speech.
She noted that when she decided to run for governor, with little name recognition and no money, “pretty much everyone I talked to in Vermont politics was like, ‘That’s a terrible idea.’”
But, she told her supporters, “the thing that troubled me most was that people seemed to think that change wasn’t possible. And, you know, I realized in this moment that like my real opponent throughout this whole campaign has never been another candidate or even another party. The opponent has been cynicism.”
After congratulating Scott, “I do genuinely want to thank him for his service to the state in this moment,” Janoo said. “I believe that he really wants to ensure that Vermont has a steady hand in the face of a pretty petty president.”
“But it is also on us at this moment to make sure that we continue this momentum and this push and hold him accountable for some of the new plans that he’s outlined as a result of this campaign.”
For his part, Scott called the series of debates with Janoo “civil and respectful and a model for the rest of the nation.”
In his victory speech, he remarked that 48 hours earlier, “the political pundits were writing my obituary” with a University of New Hampshire poll that showed Janoo winning by nine points.
The governor ruefully noted the tough night for Republicans and a mixed message from an electorate that returned a Democratic supermajority to both houses of state government Tuesday.
“We will enter the next two years with some significant differences in our political views and the approaches to our government,” Scott said.
“I will continue working for and supporting a more affordable Vermont,” he said. “I will continue working to grow our economy, strengthen our communities, and create more opportunities for our kids. And I will continue insisting the math adds up and we spend taxpayer dollars responsibly.”
The outcome was not affected by the other candidates who were on the ballot: minor party candidates June Goodband (Peace and Justice Party) and Dean Roy (Freedom and Unity Party), plus independent Brian Judd.
Goodband, Roy, and Judd received a combined 1.8% of the statewide vote.
While Scott will remain governor, Democrats will hold the rest of the statewide offices.
Democrat Molly Gray will return to the Lieutenant Governor’s office after a four-year hiatus as she bested incumbent Republican John Rodgers, 61.5%–36.2%.
Incumbent State Treasurer Mike Pieciak easily won re-election with 59.9% of the vote to Republican Lynn LaFleur’s 29.9% and Progressive Zachary Hampl’s 6.2%.
The story was the same for incumbent Secretary of State Sarah Copeland Hanzas, who received 56.3% of the vote to defeat Republican H. Brooke Paige (30.9%) and Progressive Rachel Shaw (7.7%).
Incumbent Attorney General Charity Clark also defeated Republican Edwin Howell Kemon by a wide margin, 64.6%–30.6%.
The only statewide office with an open seat was auditor of accounts, as current deputy auditor Tim Ashe, a former Democratic state senator, defeated Republican Ivar Kronick, 65.6%–29.2%.
In the only federal race on the ballot, U.S. Rep. Becca Balint won her third term in Congress with more with than 60% of the vote.
The Brattleboro Democrat turned aside challenges from Republican Gerald Malloy — in his third unsuccessful bid for Congress — and from independents Phoenix Altair, Adam Ortiz, Suzanne Seymour, and Ryan Walton.
“I’m deeply honored that Vermonters have put their trust in me for another term in Congress,” Balint said in a news release. “At a time when working families are being squeezed, our rights are under attack, and this administration is testing the limits of its power, I’m ready to keep fighting.”
House races
Most of the House races in Windham County were contested, but Republican candidates were having little success.
Windham-1 (Guilford and Vernon) incumbent Democrat Zon Eastes defeated Nancy Gassett, 1,426–738.
In the two-representative Windham-3 district, two Democrats, incumbent Michelle Bos-Lun and newcomer Chris Lundberg, defeated Republicans Nicole Amanda Cota and Ryan Coyne.
Voters in Brookline, Rockingham, and Westminster gave Bos-Lun 2,598 votes and Lundberg, 2,430. Cota received 904 and Coyne, 867.
In a three-way race in Windham-4, incumbent Democrat Mike Mrowicki defeated Republican Lynne Wilkins and Ian Diamondstone of the Peace & Justice Party. Mrowicki garnered 1,770 votes, Wilkins received 419, and Diamondstone got 208.
Incumbent Brattleboro Democrat Emilie Kornheiser was re-elected to her Windham-7 seat with 75% of the vote, beating Republican Aaron Smith, 1,303–416.
Newcomer Democrat Daniel Quipp of Brattleboro won the Windham-8 seat that opened up with Rep. Mollie Burke’s retirement, defeating Republican William Harvey, 1,472–240.
In the Windsor-Windham district, which includes Athens, Grafton, and Windham, Democratic challenger William Hoser defeated incumbent Republican Thomas Charlton, 1,344–916.
With a 1,374–863 vote in the Windham-Windsor-Bennington district, Democratic incumbent Chris Morrow defeated Republican E. Stuart Coleman.
Incumbents winning uncontested races included independent Laura Sibilia in Windham-2, Democrat Emily Long in Windham-5 (Townshend, Newfane, and Marlboro), Democrat Emily Carris Duncan in Windham-6 (Wilmington, Whitingham, and Halifax), and Democrat Ian Goodnow in Windham-9 (Brattleboro).
Senate and county races
Incumbent state senators Wendy Harrison and Nadir Hashim, both Democrats, defeated Republican challengers Dale Gassett and Rusty Sage. Harrison received 13,349 votes; Hashim, 12,652; Sage, 4,188; and Gassett, 3,883.
In the Bennington district, which includes Londonderry, Stratton, and Wilmington, Democratic incumbents Seth Bongartz and Robert Plunkett defeated Republicans Lawrence Whitmire and Josh Williams and Progressive Rachel Shaw.
Democratic incumbents were unopposed in their respective county races as Probate Judge Jodi French, assistant judges Lamont Barnett and Carolyn Partridge, State’s Attorney Steven M. Brown, Sheriff Mark Anderson, and High Bailiff Angela Lawrence all retained their posts.
Constitutional questions
Voters also overwhelmingly approved two proposed amendments to the Vermont Constitution.
Proposal 3 will affirm workers’ right to organize and collectively bargain and would prevent lawmakers from easily reversing labor protections in the future. The amendment was supported by nearly 74% of voters.
Aimed at ensuring all people are treated equally under the law regardless of their race, ethnicity, sex, religion, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or nationality, Proposal 4 was supported by almost 79% of voters.
For both amendments, the statewide votes represented the last step in the years-long process that any proposed change to Vermont’s Constitution must follow. Both proposals needed a majority vote to pass.
Early voting proves popular
Town clerks around the county told The Commons that between 35% and 50% of voters opted to vote early.
Brattleboro Town Clerk Hilary Francis said about 35% of the town’s checklist opted to cast their ballots early. She said turnout was strong — not as large as the 70% who voted in the 2024 presidential election, but on par with the 55% turnout for the 2022 midterm election.
As of noon, she said 48% of the checklist had voted. By the end of the day, 59% had voted.
“We had a lot of voters coming through the doors,” Francis said in an email to The Commons. “The day was smooth and safe, with few complications.”
Turnout in Rockingham was “heavy and steady,” according to Town Clerk Kathleen Kelly, who said that town officials had counted 911 early ballots prior to election day, with 2,029 votes cast by the closing of the polls on Tuesday. Though not quite up to the level of the 2,586 votes in 2024 for the last presidential election, it was a substantial turnout for a mid-term election.
With all but three towns reporting on Wednesday morning, the Secretary of State’s office reported voter turnout statewide at 83% of the turnout for the 2024 presidential election.
Tina Blaise, a lister and election worker for Halifax, said that by 5 p.m., election officials had hand-counted about 400 of its 677 registered voters had cast ballots.
Blaise held a stack of green affidavits from voters who chose to vote in person and either destroyed their ballot or forgot to bring it from home. In such cases, voters complete a document swearing that they have not voted more than once.
The state’s decision to mail all registered voters ballots “makes it crazy for record keeping” at the local level, Blaise said.
According to Blaise, some people have said they wanted to vote in person because they trust the town’s election process more than the state’s. She added, however, that fewer people had questions or concerns about election security or voter fraud compared to the 2024 presidential election.
In Dummerston, Town Clerk Laurie Frechette said about 750 ballots were turned in before Nov. 3. Combined with those who voted in person or waited to turn in the ballot they received in mail in person, just under 1,000 votes had been cast by noon. By the end of the day, turnout was 75%.
Putney Town Clerk Jonathan Johnson said 733 of that town’s 2,113 voters cast early ballots. Guilford Town Clerk Uriel Najera said that 759 voters chose to vote early, and about 200 in-person ballots had been cast as of 1:30 p.m.
Vernon Town Clerk Heidi Johnson-Clement said her town tabulated 418 early ballots. Combined with in-person voters, approximately 800 had cast ballots as of midafternoon.
Marlboro Town Clerk Forrest Holzapfel called his town’s turnout “outstanding,” with 74% of the town’s 700 registered voters casting ballots. He said most residents are comfortable with mail-in voting.
“The main thing is that everyone has access that’s easy,” he said.
Unseasonably warm weather for early November, with temperatures near 70 under partly sunny skies, also helped boost turnout.
Setting an example
Whitingham Town Clerk Rachel Littlehale walked people through casting their ballots. She registered first-time voter Jack Chupp at the polls and administered the voter’s oath.
“It’s nice to contribute to something bigger than yourself,” said Chupp, who turned 18 in August, as he waited in line to put his ballot through the town’s tabulator machine.
A 2023 policy brief from the Sandra Day O’Connor Institute for American Democracy, “New Evidence on Trickle-Down and Trickle-Up Influences in Civic Education and Engagement,” stated that while it has been accepted that families form students’ political identities, it also highlighted that this influence goes both ways — from parent to child and child to parent.
According to the policy brief, more than 68% of children in the study who voted in their first presidential election had a mother who was registered to vote, compared to 46% of those who did not.
The policy brief authors wrote that “estimates imply that having a child who voted in their first age-eligible election is associated with a 5.3 percentage point increase in the probability a mother votes in the next presidential election.”
When asked why he felt it was important to vote, Chupp said, “Because my mom said so.”
With additional reporting by Olga Peters and Robert F. Smith of The Commons.
This News item by Randolph T. Holhut was written for The Commons.