On Tuesday, voters will pick the state’s chief executive officer, a new lieutenant governor and the state attorney general.
It is arguably the most pivotal Election Day in Vermont in recent memory, since the 2000 election when the Take Back Vermont movement drove out many lawmakers who supported the state’s new civil unions law for gay couples.
Incumbent Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., while widely predicted to win, has been in a bruising battle with Scott Milne, a Republican travel agency owner who narrowly lost to Gov. Peter Shumlin in 2014.
Here are some of the pivotal stories in that race.
Leahy, Vermont’s longtime senior senator, is running on his 42-year record. Milne has attacked Leahy for staying in office too long and taking corporate campaign donations. While Leahy, 76, is the heavy favorite in the race, he’s suffered a few chinks in his armor in the fight with 57-year-old Milne.
Gov. Peter Shumlin is ending his six year tenure as governor in January, opening up the top job. Typically, once a candidate is voted in, Vermonters stick with incumbents. The last two open races for the top job were in 2010 and 2002.
Republican Lt. Gov. Phil Scott and Democrat Sue Minter, a former secretary of the Agency of Transportation, are in a tight race. Outside money from political action committees has poured into the races, upping the ante for television ad spending by the Republican Governors Association, the Democratic Governors Association and Planned Parenthood. It is widely seen as one of the most negative gubernatorial campaigns in Vermont’s history.
Key stories about the 2016 gubernatorial race can be found here.
The two candidates differ widely on many issues. Minter wants to fix Vermont Health Connect, the state’s health care insurance portal. Scott wants to ditch it. Minter wants background checks for guns purchased at gun shows; Scott wants to keep the state’s gun laws the way they are. Scott wants to cut the state budget and says he won’t raise taxes; Minter has said she will increase spending on certain programs, such as two years of free college for high school seniors who attend state colleges, which would be paid for taxes on banks. She has said she won’t raise personal income or sales taxes. She has said she wants to boost state revenue through economic development initiatives.
Scott’s stances on the issues can be found here.
Minter’s responses to 10 questions about her priorities are here.
The No. 2 job is also up for grabs thanks to Scott’s bid for governor. The lieutenant governor serves as the governor whenever the CEO is out of state and replaces the governor should he or she die in office. The lieutenant governor also presides over the state Senate (effectively moderating debate) and serves on the powerful Committee on Committees, which places the 30 lawmakers in the Senate on panels that draft laws, review budget and tax proposals and oversee executive branch activities.
Republican Randy Brock, a former state senator, state auditor and candidate for governor, is running against David Zuckerman, a Progressive/Democrat senator from Chittenden County. The two men have diametrically opposed views on many issues.
Brock is a fiscal conservative who believes in smaller government and opposes a hike in the minimum wage to $15 per hour. He also opposes marijuana legalization. Early on in the race, he distanced himself from Donald Trump, the Republican nominee for president. Brock, who is African American, has criticized Zuckerman for “racist” comments. He points to Zuckerman’s comparison of legalizing marijuana to the fight for racial justice, among other things.
As a college student, Zuckerman worked for Sen. Bernie Sanders and is one of the beneficiaries of Sanders’ vast fundraising list. Zuckerman is an organic farmer who wants to increase the minimum wage to $15 per hour. He led a failed initial effort in the Senate to legalize marijuana last year. He was also instrumental in the passage of Act 46, the school district consolidation law.
Vermont Attorney General Bill Sorrell announced earlier this year he would not be seeking re-election after 18 years in office. That opened up the top cop job for a bid by former 2012 Democratic primary rival, TJ Donovan.
Donovan, the Chittenden County State’s Attorney, wants to end the state’s use of out of state prisons, while his Republican opponent Deb Bucknam, an attorney from St. Johnsbury, says sending inmates to other states saves money. They have also clashed over campaign finance. Bucknam says the system works as is; Donovan would like to see the U.S. Supreme Court overturn the Citizens United decision, which has opened campaigns up to indirect spending by outside groups.
Read an overview of the differences between the two candidates for Vermont Attorney General.
Profile of TJ Donovan
Profile of Deb Bucknam
The Legislature
Odds are, the Democratic majority will continue to dominate the Statehouse in Montpelier after Election Day. But seats could shift somewhat.
There are 150 seats in the Vermont House of Representatives. This year, 246 people are running for House seats (57 percent are Democrats, 35 percent Republicans, 4 percent Progressive and 4 percent independents). Of that total number, 127 are incumbents.
There are 30 seats in the Vermont Senate and 55 candidates are making a bid for those seats. Forty-nine percent of the candidates are Democrats, 35 percent are Republicans, 6 percent are Progressives and 6 percent are independents.
Find information about House and Senate candidates here.
Ballot initiatives in Windham/Grafton and Burlington
In two regions of the state, decisions about large scale developments will have ramifications for decades to come.
In Windham County, a proposed 24-turbine wind farm has divided the communities of Grafton and Windham. The developer, Iberdrola, has offered voters in Windham annual payouts of $1,162, in Grafton, each resident would receive $428 a year. Questions have been raised about whether the offer, which was originally offered only to registered voters, is tantamount to buying votes.
Read the Stiles Brook windfarm stories here.
Burlington voters will decide whether to support a controversial 14-story, $220 million redevelopment of the Town Center Mall, located on Church Street. The project is being pushed by Mayor Miro Weinberger and the Burlington City Council as a way to bring more jobs and affordable housing downtown. Opponents say the project is out of scale and the housing will be too expensive for residents. Both sides have formed political action committees to influence voters.
Read the stories here. Or watch this short explainer video.
