Gov. Phil Scott has quietly started fundraising for his 2020 reelection campaign, although he has yet to formally declare whether he will seek a third term.
The governor’s campaign team recently sent a letter to top donors, asking for financial support and touting his accomplishments in office.
“We’ve made a lot of progress over the last three years, but there’s still so much more to do,” Scott wrote in the letter, obtained by VTDigger. “It’s important to the future of our state that we stay focused on fiscal discipline.”
The letter was mailed out about two weeks ago, according to three people who received it.
In the message, the governor, who has said he will not formally announce whether he will run for reelection until next May, does not explicitly say that he will seek office again in 2020.
In a statement, Brittney Wilson, who ran Scott’s previous campaigns, said the governor is still undecided about 2020, and is raising money so he can be prepared to launch a campaign.
“As you know the governor is 11 months into the term and focused on governing,” said Wilson, who is also a top aide to the governor.
“Raising funds now helps support the infrastructure, but also preserves his options to make a formal decision after the session,” she added.
The governor already has $106,000 left over from his 2018 campaign, and raised $4,500 between the end of 2018 and July of 2019, his latest campaign finance filings show. He raised just over $700,000 in the last election.
While Scott has yet to announce his 2020 plans, most Democrats and Republicans have been operating under the assumption that he will seek a third term.
Rep. Heidi Scheuermann, R-Stowe, who received the letter and is close to the governor, said that she hasn’t heard from Scott “either way” about his reelection plans. But she expects that he will seek another term.
“I’m not surprised something has gone out. And actually, I’d be surprised if his team hadn’t done anything until his decision is made ultimately until the spring,” Scheuermann said of the letter.
“I just don’t think that gives him enough time to do what he needs to be successful,” she added.
Another Republican legislator who received the fundraising letter, but did not want to be identified, said the message “certainly suggests” Scott is running again.
“Given that he’s already got one primary opponent, he probably figures he’s got to be out front and get something in the bank,” the person said.
John Klar, a political novice and hardline conservative, announced in October that he would take on Scott in a primary next year.
In Scott’s fundraising letter, he boasts that under his watch, the state has cut income taxes, increased investment in workforce development, and “prevented $71 million in projected property tax increases, and millions of other new taxes, fees and business mandates.”
He adds that his goal continues to be “making Vermont a more affordable, and predictable place to live and prosper.”
“The dominance of one party in the Legislature has been difficult, but if we can get them to focus on my initiatives I’m confident we can add workers to our workforce and continue to drive economic growth,” he writes in the letter.
Who Scott would face on the Democratic side is still unclear. Only one candidate, former education secretary Rebecca Holcombe, has announced she is running for governor in 2020.
Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman and Attorney General TJ Donovan are also seriously considering gubernatorial bids.
