The 90-year-old Doyle came in fourth in the Nov. 8 election to represent Washington County. He trailed incumbents Ann Cummings, a Democrat, and Anthony Pollina, a Progressive/Democrat, with former Statehouse Sergeant at Arms Francis Brooks, another Democrat, winning the third spot.
Doyle sought the recount because he finished just 189 votes behind Brooks and has the same last name as another Republican candidate, which he said might have confused voters. The vote difference fell within the margin of 2 percent of all 92,231 votes cast that allows a candidate to request a recount.
But Doyle announced a change of heart Wednesday. In a statement posted online by Vermont Business Magazine, he said advisers told him he was unlikely to gain enough votes, and that he was stepping aside so officials wouldn’t have to do the recount and Brooks could begin preparing for the legislative session.
In the statement he called it his “great privilege to serve the residents of the state of Vermont” as a senator for so long.
Doyle is known for conducting the Doyle Poll, a survey that gauges public opinion every year on Town Meeting Day, and for mentoring students to pursue public service as a professor at Johnson State College.
Gov.-elect Phil Scott said, “I’ve had the privilege of knowing Sen. Doyle very well – first as his constituent in Washington County, then as a fellow senator and as lieutenant governor. He is truly one of the ‘indomitable people’ of Vermont, as President Calvin Coolidge said.”
“The decision Sen. Doyle made today in regards to the recount must not have been easy, especially after serving in the Legislature for 48 years — but it speaks to who he is: a public servant first and a politician second,” Scott said.