Updated at 6:5o p.m.
MONTPELIER — Jill Krowinski, a Democrat from Burlington, won a third term as speaker of the Vermont House on Wednesday, overcoming a challenge from Dover independent Rep. Laura Sibilia. The outcome showed Krowinski still enjoys substantial, bipartisan support among her House colleagues — even after her caucus suffered significant losses in last fall’s election.
The vote was 111-35, Secretary of State Sarah Copeland Hanzas, who oversaw the proceedings, announced from the House floor around 11:40 a.m. The result came after a number of lawmakers gave speeches in favor of both candidates and a tense period of vote tallying — events not seen in the chamber in decades.
Lawmakers voted by secret ballot, meaning that neither members’ individual choices — nor the partisan makeup of Krowinski’s support — was clear, though the lopsided outcome indicated that many Republicans supported her.
“I pledge to approach this work with renewed dedication, perseverance for a better tomorrow and steadfast belief that together we can meet the challenges ahead,” Krowinski told the House, shortly after she was sworn in following the vote.
Krowinski said she was committed to making “substantial reforms” to the state’s education funding system, increasing access to affordable housing and combatting the effects of climate change, pointing to the severe flooding that has devastated Vermont communities in recent years.
Earlier on Wednesday, the Senate also voted to retain its top leader. In a unanimous decision, senators reelected President Pro Tempore Phil Baruth, D/P-Chittenden Central, to his position.
Hours before the Senate vote, Sen. Randy Brock, R-Franklin, who had only recently announced his candidacy, dropped out of that contest. No one else was nominated for the position on Wednesday.
Following his victory, Baruth thanked Brock, and promised that he — like Krowinski — would make education finance reform the year’s “top priority.”
The combination of spiking property taxes and the state’s decades-old school funding system, Baruth said, “has become too complicated to understand and too unreliable to trust.”
“I will work like a dog every single day of this biennium to solve these two complex, interwoven problems,” he said. “We cannot adjourn without a comprehensive legislative framework in hand.”
Baruth has held the role of president pro tem since 2023, while Krowinski has held her position since 2021. The speaker’s own ascension to the office was thanks, in part, to a political ousting — after her predecessor, former House Speaker Mitzi Johnson, D-South Hero, lost her reelection bid in November 2020.
Before the vote, several lawmakers made formal nominating speeches urging their colleagues to support either Krowinski or Sibilia. Krowinski was nominated by Rep. Theresa Wood, a Waterbury Democrat, and Rep. Tom Burditt, a Rutland Republican. Sibilia, meanwhile, was nominated by West Windsor Democratic Rep. Elizabeth Burrows; Rep. Mark Higley, a Lowell Republican; and Progressive/Democratic Burlington Rep. Troy Headrick.
“With the monumental task we have on our agenda in the coming biennium, we need the experience in leadership Jill brings to the table,” Burditt told the House. “We need to hit the ground running — now — and not spend time on a transition period.”
More than a half-hour of floor debate — rare for a speaker election in modern history — followed, with others standing up to urge support for one candidate or the other. After that, members were handed yellow slips of paper to mark their vote for either Sibilia or Krowinski, and the slips were then tallied up in the center of the House chamber.
The chamber broke into applause moments after Copeland Hanzas announced Krowinski’s win. Krowinski and Sibilia later embraced on the floor.
Sibilia’s campaign had appeared to gain momentum in the days leading up to the vote. Last week, 21 Democratic, Progressive and independent lawmakers, including Sibilia, told VTDigger that they planned to support her over Krowinski or were likely to do so.
But in order to win a majority of votes in the 150-member chamber, Sibilia also needed support from nearly all of the 56 GOP House members — something that did not materialize Wednesday.
House GOP leaders did not make an organized effort to whip votes in favor of one speaker candidate or the other, said Poultney Rep. Pattie McCoy, the party’s leader in the chamber, after the vote. She said she was expecting the result would be closer but also believed that Krowinski had taken Republican members’ concerns with her leadership to heart.
“She understands that people have spoken. She had a meeting with the governor on Monday, and I’ve heard from the administration that she seems ready, willing and able to come to the table and work together to reach consensus,” McCoy said.
Speaking later in the afternoon Wednesday, Sibilia said she was “incredibly proud” of her campaign and that she was committed to working collaboratively with Krowinski going forward.
Asked about GOP support, she said she wasn’t sure why her campaign ultimately did not resonate with enough Republicans, noting she “provided incredibly detailed proposals” on her ideas when asked and had met with GOP caucus members.
However, “it is clear that the speaker has bipartisan support,” she said. “There are more than 100 members who feel like things are going to be better in terms of operation and structure — and I am going to choose to be optimistic about that.”
Ethan Weinstein contributed reporting.
