[A]s Rebecca Holcombe, a Democratic candidate for governor, works to hire a permanent staff in Vermont, she has placed her campaign in the hands of a team of out-of-state Democratic consultants.
Only one of nine staff members the campaign has disclosed so far, Krista Huling, the chair of the State Board of Education and the campaign’s treasurer, is from Vermont.
Holcombe, a former education secretary, became the first Democrat to announce her candidacy in the 2020 governor’s race earlier this week.
Seven Days first reported on Holcombe’s early reliance on outside consultants Thursday evening.
The campaign said Friday that Holcombe is working with two media consultants from the company SKDKnickerbocker, two pollsters from ALG Research, two consultants from marketing firm Mission Control to run a “mail program” and a digital consultant from a firm called GPS Impact.
All of the firms have a presence in Washington, D.C., and other locations around the country.
Brian Lenzmeier, Holcombe’s campaign adviser, said the team assembled so far has helped elect Democratic governors including Ned Lamont of Connecticut, Laura Kelly of Kansas, and Roy Cooper of North Carolina.
“It’s not uncommon for candidates for governor to also turn to advisors who specialize in governors’ races, just like prior governors and candidates have done,” Lenzmeier wrote in an email.
“Just about every governor in the country has done that, including Gov. Scott.”
Lenzmeier has run congressional campaigns for Democrats in Michigan and New Mexico, and according to the Philadelphia Inquirer, was the treasurer of a super PAC that backed a Democratic congressional candidate in 2018.
He added that Holcombe plans to hire a “Vermont heavy” campaign staff soon, and that recent fundraising will help start that process.
In the first 48 hours of announcing her run, Holcombe’s campaign announced that she raised $140,000 from individual donors.
Terje Anderson, the chair of the Vermont Democratic Party, said it’s not unusual for political candidates in Vermont to lean on out-of-state experts for campaign consulting and services, because much of it isn’t available in-state.
Gov. Phil Scott paid out-of-state consultants and companies thousands during his 2018 campaign for services including mailers, television advertisements and robocalls, his campaign finance filings show.
Anderson added that Holcombe is searching for Vermont staff and that she is working with consultants “just to put the technical pieces of what the campaign would need to look like in place.”
“Anybody who wants to run any campaign in Vermont needs to have Vermonters leading it and I know that Rebecca knows that and is working on it,” he said.
“She’s actively looking for in-state staff, but she felt like she needed to announce relatively early so she could start fundraising and could then be in a position to hire a campaign staff,” he added.
Anderson isn’t surprised to see national Democratic consultants interested in Vermont’s 2020 governor’s race.
In 2020, there will only be a handful of gubernatorial races around the country, and he expects Democratic activists will see an opportunity to flip the Republican governor’s seat in Vermont.
Other Democrats are also considering runs, including Attorney General T.J Donovan, Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman and activist Brenda Siegel.
