Updated Wednesday, Nov. 9, at 12:36 p.m.
Rep. Sarah Copeland Hanzas, D-Bradford, is set to become Vermont’s next secretary of state after defeating perennial Republican candidate H. Brooke Paige.
Copeland Hanzas picked up 61% of the vote, while Paige collected 33%, according to complete but uncertified results released Wednesday by the Vermont Secretary of State’s Office.
The night before, at the Vermont Democratic Party’s election night gathering at Hula in Burlington, Copeland Hanzas declared victory.
“I am so proud of Vermont,” Copeland Hanzas said in a victory speech around 11 p.m., in which she credited her predecessor, outgoing Secretary of State Jim Condos, for expanding voting access in the state.
“Other states are putting the arbitrary numbers in front of people in their right to vote and we here in Vermont are giving a resounding no,” Copeland Hanzas said. “We are saying in a democracy, everyone should be able to vote, everyone’s vote should be counted, and everybody should have the confidence to know that at the end of the day, when the race is called, the winner is the winner.”
The veteran lawmaker has spent nearly two decades in the Vermont House. She previously served as the Democratic majority leader and currently chairs the House Committee on Government Operations.
Vermont’s secretary of state oversees a grab bag of governmental functions, including elections, public records laws, professional licensing and the state archives.
The race for the statewide office pitted the longtime state representative against Paige, who may be best known for wearing a boater or top hat. Both were competing to replace Condos, a Democrat, who announced his retirement in February after more than a decade in the office.
Condos’ deputy, Chris Winters, was Copeland Hanzas’ chief competitor in the August Democratic primary. In the closest statewide primary race, Copeland Hanzas eked out a narrow win over Winters, capturing the nomination with 35% of the vote compared to Winters’ 33%.
For years, Paige has mounted bids for multiple offices in Republican primaries, often running to secure a place on the ballot for a Republican candidate while the party searched for other contenders.
Paige ran unopposed this year in statewide GOP primary races for attorney general, secretary of state, treasurer and auditor. After the primary, he withdrew from the AG’s and auditor’s races, staying on the ballot only for secretary of state and treasurer. Paige was also defeated in the treasurer’s race Tuesday.
In an interview late Tuesday night, Paige said he had not yet called Copeland Hanzas or Mike Pieciak, his opponent in the treasurer’s race, to concede. He said he would likely contact them in the coming days.
“In the end, I did not win,” he said. “OK. I got that.”
But Paige said he plans to continue his advocacy for conservative causes.
“They may have not voted me in, but they haven't gotten rid of me quite yet,” he said.
During the campaign, Copeland Hanzas touted her experience leading the government operations committee, which has jurisdiction over many of the same functions as the Secretary of State’s Office. It was while chairing that committee that she worked to craft Vermont’s 2021 universal mail-in voting law, which codified emergency ballot access measures instituted during the early months of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.
As secretary of state, Copeland Hanzas has said that she will work to make information about elections and government more accessible to Vermonters, including creating a voter guide and a school curriculum focusing on civics and the media.
Those positions contrast sharply with Paige, who has trafficked in debunked conspiracy theories questioning the legitimacy of the 2020 presidential election, as well as the legality of Barack Obama’s presidency. Nationally, Paige was one of 11 election deniers who ran for secretary of state on a major party ticket this year, according to States United Action.
In an interview late Tuesday, Copeland Hanzas said that she would work to ensure Vermonters know “that everybody has the equal opportunity to participate in elections.”
“That is the number one goal that I have,” she said.