Incumbent state’s attorneys facing primary challengers in Vermont had a nerve-wracking Tuesday night as election results came in.
Two incumbent state’s attorneys appeared to win narrow primary victories while a third incumbent went down handily in defeat.
Bennington County State’s Attorney Erica Marthage held a 136-vote lead with one town, Searsburg, left to report results as Tuesday’s election night became early Wednesday morning.
Marthage had a total of 2,538 votes compared to 2,402 for Arnie Gottlieb in the Democratic Party primary for Bennington state’s attorney, according to unofficial vote totals posted on the Secretary of State’s website.
In Essex County, longtime state’s attorney Vince Illuzzi bested challenger Amy Davis by 40 votes, 288 to 248, in the Republican primary.
Illuzzi was trailing Davis for much of the night as the results came in, before making up the difference and then some with two late-reporting towns.
In Lamoille County, incumbent Paul Finnerty, who has served one four-year term, lost in the Democratic primary to challenger Todd Shove, who currently serves as a deputy state’s attorney in Orleans County. Shove won by a vote of 1,336 to 929.
Shove will now face Elizabeth “Betsy” Anderson, the only Republican candidate on the primary ballot for the Lamoille state’s attorney post, in the general election in November. Anderson is an assistant attorney general in the Vermont Attorney General’s Office.
Illuzzi, reached late Tuesday night, said turnout was so light in Essex County it was hard to read anything into the 40-vote difference in his race.
Davis, an attorney in private practice, had criticized Illuzzi for spending too much time in Montpelier lobbying for private interests when lawmakers are in session.
Illuzzi said he wasn’t sure how to explain the close vote.
He said he had heard out on the campaign trail from some people who were upset he held an “Expungement Day” for those with past marijuana-related possession convictions and some other nonviolent crimes.
In Essex County, no Democrats have filed to run for the state’s attorney post in the general election.
In the tight race between Marthage and Gottlieb, both declined to issue any definitive statement Tuesday night.
But it would be too early to break out the champagne in any case, as both candidates have second chances to make the Nov. 6 ballot.
Gottlieb had also previously qualified for the November ballot as an independent, and Marthage may have been nominated on the Republican ticket through write-in votes, which she encouraged among those taking the GOP primary ballot.
That latter possibility could not be verified Tuesday night, but there were a high number of write-in votes that remained to be counted.
The Bennington state’s attorney candidates also will face another challenger in November.
Christina Rainville, a former deputy prosecutor in Marthage’s office, is running for her former boss’ job. She submitted the required voter signatures to qualify for the November ballot as an independent.
The challenging night for incumbents Tuesday comes as the Vermont chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union has been shining a spotlight on state’s attorneys races across Vermont.
There were only three contested races during Tuesday’s primary. And there will be at least three contested races in the general election in November.
As part of the effort to highlight the state’s attorney races, the ACLU of Vermont held a forum earlier this month at Vermont Law School for the candidates in the contested races, though neither Illuzzi or Marthage made it to the event.
“We often say that state’s attorneys are the most powerful politician you’ve never heard of,” James Duff Lyall, the organization’s executive director in Vermont, said last month.
“If we’re going to build a smarter, fairer system of justice in this state, that has to change,” he added. “Every day, state’s attorneys make life-altering decisions in the name of their constituents, and Vermont voters have a right to know if those decisions reflect their priorities and their values.”
