[A]fter months of searching and as the state enters into a gubernatorial election cycle, the Vermont Democratic Party has hired its new executive director.
The party has chosen Scott McNeil, who is originally from Massachusetts, and who spent the last two years as the executive director of the North Dakota Democratic-NPL.
McNeil takes over the reins of the party after Josh Massey, the former executive director, left the position in April — marking a short nine-month stint in the role.
Earlier this year, Seven Days reported that Massey had planned to work for a labor union, but that at the time he was going to work for his wife’s yoga clothing business, Subtle Soul Studio.
McNeil could not be immediately reached for comment.
McNeil was hired by the North Dakota Democratic-NPL in July 2017, inheriting one Democrat in Congress, former Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, and 22 blue seats in the state Legislature.
Before running the North Dakota Democratic-NPL, McNeil — a graduate of George Washington University — worked on a number of political campaigns, including current Massachusetts Senate leader Will Brownsberger’s unsuccessful bid for Congress in 2013.
Heitkamp, who was up for reelection in 2018, lost to Republican Rep. Kevin Cramer, who aligned himself with President Donald Trump who won 64% of the vote in the 2016 election.
After taking the job in North Dakota, McNeil wrote on the self-publishing platform Medium that he was “under no illusion that Democrats had an easy job in North Dakota.
Though McNeil was in charge of the North Dakota party for Heitkamp’s loss, during his tenure the Democrats added three members to the state legislature — up from 22 to 25 lawmakers out of North Dakota’s 141-member Legislature.
In Vermont — with 126 Democrats and Progressives dominating the 180-member legislature and a congressional delegation that includes Sens. Patrick Leahy, Bernie Sanders and Rep. Peter Welch — McNeil is inheriting a much different situation than in North Dakota.
But entering a gubernatorial election year in 2020, it remains to be seen if the Democrats will trot out a candidate strong enough to challenge the popular Republican Gov. Phil Scott.
Former Secretary of Education Rebecca Holcombe has already entered the race as a Democrat, bringing in $140,000 in the first 48 hours after announcing her run.
Attorney General TJ Donovan, Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman and activist Brenda Siegel are also considering possible runs for governor.
