WASHINGTON (AP) — Two Democrats are competing in Vermont’s primary election Tuesday for the right to challenge four-term Republican Gov. Phil Scott in November, the most significant of a handful of contested primaries on the ballot.
Voters will also decide on the primary for lieutenant governor and other contested races for the predominantly Democratic-dominated state legislature.
Esther Charlestin and Peter Duval are vying for the Democratic nomination for governor. Charlestin is an educator and former member of the Middlebury Selectboard. She is endorsed by former Democratic Governor Howard Dean, Lieutenant Governor David Zuckerman and Burlington Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak.
Duval is a computer science graduate and former Underhill Selectboard member who ran for governor as an independent in 2022. His website states, “I’m going to lose this election,” a message that stems from his previous run. But he also says a vote for him will lend a hand bring environmental issues to the forefront of state politics. He also encourages Republicans and progressives to mention his name in their party’s primaries.
Scott is unopposed for his party’s nomination. Despite being a Republican governor in a heavily Democratic state, he remains a popular figure, receiving 69% of the vote in the 2022 general election. Scott has been a critic of Republican Donald Trump and supported former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley for president. He says he was one of the 66% of Vermont voters who cast their ballots for Democrat Joe Biden in 2020.
Both Democrats and Republicans will hold contested primaries for lieutenant governor. Zuckerman is seeking re-election to a fourth term. He served four years in office when he lost his bid for governor to Scott, but returned to office two years later. He faces a primary challenge from Democrat Thomas Renner, the Winooski deputy mayor and city councilman who previously served as an aide to Democratic U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy.
John Rodgers and Gregory Thayer are running for the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor. Thayer is an accountant from Rutland, where he previously served as a city councilman and chairman of the local Republican Party. He also ran for lieutenant governor in 2022, losing the Republican primary with 44% of the vote. Rodgers is from the state’s conservative Northeast Kingdom and served a total of 16 years as a Democrat in the state House of Representatives and Senate. In 2018, he ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic nomination for governor as a non-district candidate. He has Scott’s endorsement.
Although he is now running as a Republican, Rodgers said in a July debate that he would not vote for Donald Trump in November. Thayer, on the other hand, was a delegate to the party’s convention in Milwaukee in July and participated in the riots at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, demonstrating for the overturning of Trump’s presidential election defeat. In the July debate, he said he did not enter the building and did not regret his participation. When asked by the moderator if he would return to the Capitol if Trump lost again in November, he said, “I’ll wait and see what happens with the election.”
Topping the ballot in Vermont are races for seats in the U.S. Senate and U.S. House, but independent U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders and Democratic U.S. Representative Becca Balint are both unopposed for the Democratic nominations. Their Republican challengers are also running unopposed. Also running unopposed are candidates for the offices of treasurer, secretary of state, attorney general and auditor.
In Vermont, the term of office of the governor, lieutenant governor, and other constitutional officers of the state is two years.
All seats in the state legislature are up for election, although only the primaries for 10 Senate seats and 15 state House seats have more candidates than seats available. Democrats hold majorities of about three to one in both chambers.
Here’s a look at what to expect on Tuesday:
Primary school day
The Vermont primary election will take place on Tuesday. Polls close at 7 p.m. ET.
What is on the ballot
The Associated Press will announce the voting results and announce the winners of the contested primaries for governor, lieutenant governor, and the state Senate and House of Representatives.
Who can vote
Any registered voter can participate in any party’s primary. In Vermont, voters are not registered by party.
Decision notes
Burlington and South Burlington have the largest populations in the state, followed by Colchester, Rutland, and Bennington. However, Vermont has over 200 cities and towns across the state, and a candidate with support from the more rural areas of the state could defeat a candidate who wins in the most populated areas.
In the race for lieutenant governor, Thayer won 81 of 247 parishes in the 2022 primary, performing best in the five counties in the southern half of the state. As a Trump critic running in a Republican primary, Rodgers may look to Haley’s victory in the March presidential primary as a possible path to the nomination. Haley performed well in the Burlington and Montpelier areas, as well as throughout central Vermont and parts of the South.
In primaries for state legislatures, the number of winners varies by district. Because many districts have multiple winners and voter turnout in lower-leaning district primaries is relatively low, particularly on the Republican side, determining winners could come down to a relatively compact number of votes.
The AP does not make predictions and will only declare a winner if it determines that there is no scenario in which the trailing candidates could close the gap. If a race has not yet been called, the AP will continue to report on any major developments, such as concessions or declarations of victory by the candidates. In doing so, the AP will make clear that it has not yet declared a winner and will explain why.
A candidate may request a recount if the vote difference reaches a certain threshold. In federal elections, statewide elections, and state Senate elections, a recount may be requested if the vote difference between the winning and losing candidate is 2% or less of the total vote divided by the number of people to be elected. In state and local House of Representatives elections, the required difference is 5% or less of the total vote divided by the number of people to be elected.
The AP can declare a winner in a race where a recount is allowed if it concludes that the margin is too immense for a recount or legal challenge to change the outcome.
What about voter turnout and early voting?
In July, there were 498,853 registered voters in Vermont.
In the 2022 midterm primary, voter turnout was about 27% of registered voters. About 34% of the votes in that election were cast before primary day.
As of Wednesday, a total of 14,871 votes had been cast before the day of the primary election.
How long does the vote count usually take?
In the 2022 midterm primaries, the AP first reported results at 7:21 p.m. ET, 21 minutes after polls closed. Election night vote counting ended at 2:16 a.m. ET, after about 96% of all votes had been counted.
Are we there yet?
As of Tuesday, there are 84 days left until the parliamentary elections in November.
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Follow AP’s coverage of the 2024 election at https://apnews.com/hub/election-2024.
