The Legislature on Thursday elected Air Guard Brig. Gen. Steven Cray, 49, to be Vermont’s next adjutant general.
The Essex resident will hold the state’s top military post, overseeing the Vermont Army and Air National Guard’s 4,000 members and their combined state and federal budget of more than $210 million.
Cray will officially be sworn in on March 1. He has 30-plus years of experience in the Vermont National Guard.
Competing against Cray for the National Guard’s top job were: Col. Darryl Ducharme, who has also served more than 30 years in the National Guard; retired Col. Michael Bullock; and James Marc Leas, a South Burlington attorney who strongly opposes stationing F-35 jets in his town.
Cray won by a landslide with 135 votes to Ducharme’s 34, Bullock’s 9 and Leas’ 4. Leas was the only candidate not to be nominated by a legislator on the floor.
Vermont is the only state in the country where the adjutant general position is chosen by a legislative vote.
This election comes after the former adjutant general, now Lt. Gen. Michael Dubie, left his post last summer to take over as deputy commander of the United States Northern Command in Colorado. Brig. Gen. Tom Drew took over as interim adjutant general, but did not seek election. Cray has been assistant adjutant general.
Cray is a firm supporter of stationing F-35s in South Burlington.
“Basing the F-35 for the Vermont Air National Guard is critically important to the future of our Air Guard, a relevant mission that we need to continue for 30-40 years into the future,” he said. “We have and will continue to work with our community partners. … We are a part of the community.”
Cray’s first day on the job may bring rough news. If a federal financial “sequestration” goes into effect, the federal defense budget would be cut by billions of dollars.
Cray said that such a decision would mean that some members of the guard would face monthly furloughs as a result.
