[W]ith no contested primaries on Tuesday, the lieutenant governor’s race has been overshadowed by those seeking the top job, but behind the scenes the two major candidates have beefed up their political warchests.
The results from Tuesday’s primary had incumbent Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman with 84.6 percent of the 70,000 votes cast in the Democratic primary, while Republican Don Turner received 76.4 percent of the 37,000 Republican ballots in the unopposed contests. Zuckerman, a Progressive, also runs under the Democratic Party label.
Rich Clark, a political science professor at Castleton University, said without polling data it’s hard to gauge the public’s interest in the lieutenant governor’s race. However, he said campaign fundraising efforts by the gubernatorial candidates may have a negative effect on the candidates seeking the No. 2 spot.
“People will put the money where they think it has the biggest impact, and I don’t think a lot of people are going to put it in the lieutenant gubernatorial race,” Clark said.
So far Turner holds the edge over Zuckerman in fundraising, with the most recent campaign filings showing the former House minority leader has raised just over $61,000 in the last campaign period and $109,600 in total coming from 177 contributors. Of that money, Turner has spent almost $32,000, leaving him with about $77,000.
Almost all of the donations to Turner’s campaign in the most recent filing period have come from Vermont residents and businesses, with the majority giving the campaign donations more than $100.
Contributors to Turner’s campaign include Skip Vallee, owner of the fuel delivery company RL Vallee, and Lenore Broughton, who has a history of funding conservative candidates.
Members of the Vallee family, along with the company RL Vallee Inc., gave a combined $16,000 to Turner — 15 percent of the campaign’s total — while Broughton gave the maximum possible contribution of $4,080.
John Casella, the CEO of the Rutland-based recycling and waste management firm Casella Waste Systems, gave $2,000 to Turner as a private citizen, and gave another $2,000 through his company.
Walter Freed, the former speaker of the Vermont House, gave Turner $250 and Jack McMullen, a Republican businessman who has run unsuccessfully for U.S. Senate and Vermont attorney general, contributed $600.
Turner said that he expects the race to be competitive and said his fundraising success reflects the faith Vermonters have in his ability to win the election in November.
“It’s very difficult to beat an incumbent in Vermont, and I have worked extremely hard to make my case to people who are interested in investing in my campaign,” Turner said, “I am going to take investments from people who believe in me and my ability to win this position.”
Zuckerman said Republicans have been focused on the lieutenant governor’s race for months and that Turner’s strong fundraising numbers demonstrate the importance they are placing on winning the post.
“Republicans have made it clear they have two targets in this election — Speaker of the House (Mitzi) Johnson and me. And in the monied world of Republicans, it’s clear he has a lot of support,” Zuckerman said of Turner, “but I have faith that the everyday person still supports me and if you look at the number of donors I think it’s obvious it indicates a real difference in who support in the state is for.”
Zuckerman’s campaign finances are in stark contrast to Turner’s.
While the Zuckerman campaign has received money from 659 contributors, it has only raised approximately $75,000 in total, and about $25,000 in this last campaign period.
Of that $75,000, the Zuckerman campaign has spent about $41,000, leaving $34,000 in the bank. He also has an additional $12,000 from his 2016 campaign.
Zuckerman’s campaign finance disclosures are devoid of maximum possible contributions, with the highest financial amount coming from the DRIVE Committee, the Teamsters union political action arm, which gave Zuckerman $2,000.
In addition to the DRIVE Committee donation, the campaign received two other contributions of more than $1,000, with one from Zuckerman’s cousin.
Zuckerman is also well off the fundraising pace he set in the 2016 election.
In the same campaign period two years ago, Zuckerman had raised more that double the amount he has this year, but the campaign said it isn’t concerned, noting in 2016 Zuckerman faced a tough primary.
“In 2016 we had two primary candidates, so it was a much more long, drawn-out race and there was much more excitement and a lot more money was raised by all the candidates in that primary,” Martha Abbott, finance director for the Zuckerman campaign, said. “This year, it’s been, well you don’t have any opponents, so people are saying, ‘we aren’t going to give you money’.”
Abbott said she expects more people will be paying attention to the Zuckerman-Turner race, but excitement over national congressional seats and the Vermont gubernatorial race could take away attention.
“We are expecting fundraising will be more robust in the next period, but we also know that people have many different priorities,” Abbott said. “People will pay attention now that there is a contest, and yes, people will be interested in the gubernatorial race, so there’s that, and people are very fired up about the national congressional races,” she said.
The Zuckerman campaign said it hopes the Democratic enthusiasm for the governor’s race in the primary is a harbinger of enthusiasm in the general election.
“That type of turnout tells me that there is a strong feeling among Vermonters to get out and vote and if that carries through to the general election that will be very helpful for my bid in the general election,” Zuckerman said.
Turner said the momentum the Democrats have built through the primary is going to be difficult to overcome, but wants Vermonters to have a choice.
“I think that it’s absolutely a hurdle I am going to have to face. It’s very difficult to beat an incumbent and it will be difficult to win this race,” Turner said. “I knew it was going to be a challenge, but I wanted to give Vermonters a choice for lieutenant governor in November.”