Incumbent Sen. John Rodgers finished fifth out of five candidates in the two-seat Essex-Orleans district, while partymate Sen. Bobby Starr retained his seat.
Rodgers, who missed the Democratic Party filing deadline in May and then ran as an independent, finished 69 votes behind the fourth-place finisher, Ron Horton, who took his spot on the Democratic ticket.
Political newcomer Russ Ingalls, a Republican, will be Starr’s new seatmate after finishing more than seven points ahead of fellow Republican Jonathan Morin.
Rodgers did not return a voicemail Tuesday night.
The Senate district covers about 40 communities across Essex, Orleans, Franklin and Lamoille counties.
Earlier this year, political observers in the Northeast Kingdom had believed the race was a lock for Rodgers and Starr, two popular Democratic incumbents.
But when Rodgers missed his party’s primary filing deadline in May, the outcome became less certain.
It was a five-way race for two seats, and observers and pols alike worried that, with Rodgers running as independent, he and Democratic challenger Ron Horton would siphon enough votes off each other to allow Republican Russ Ingalls to win.
Starr, a popular, longtime legislator, was expected to keep his seat. To political observers here, it felt like it would be a race for second between Horton, Ingalls and Rodgers.
But few would have expected the increasingly likely result Tuesday night: Rodgers placing last, behind Horton, Ingalls and another Republican newcomer, Jonathan Morin — who observers had considered a nonfactor in the race.
With 63% of the district reporting, Horton had won 3,322 votes, while Morin had garnered 3,665.
Though a newcomer, Ingalls brought strong name recognition to the race after a career in the Newport area as a real estate agent. “His name has been emblazoned throughout the years on radio ads,” Scott Wheeler, a former Orleans-1 House representative who runs the Northland Journal, said of Ingalls in October.
The potential for a tight contest had some considering whether controversies involving Rodgers could tip the scales. During a legislative debate on a gun control bill in 2018, Rodgers said it seems as if the state has been overpopulated by people who want to take away Vermont traditions.
In January, Rodgers called a critic a “clueless f—” via email. In June, he wrote an email to Senate colleagues, challenging “any snippy little bitch” who questions why he misses meetings to walk a mile in his shoes.
Each time, the senator’s comments drew rebukes from other lawmakers, but few watching Kingdom politics thought the incidents would matter much to voters.
Rodgers felt good about his chances ahead of the election. Most people in the district vote for candidates they know and who have track records, he said and that gave him comfort.
“Quite frankly, I have people tell me all the time that I’m the only Democrat that they vote for,” he said. “They like that I don’t follow the party line. I think that there’s enough people who vote for the person (rather than the party), that that won’t be a problem.”
In the August primaries, Ingalls earned 3,318 votes, the most votes of any candidate. Starr won 2,835 votes, Horton 2,237. Morin, a write-in, garnered 266. As a write-in on the Democratic ticket, Rodgers took home 171. Independents don’t face primary competition.
Republicans will hold seven seats in the Senate; Democrats/Progressives will hold 23 seats.
