The second-place finisher in Vermont’s gubernatorial race says he will ask the legislature to elect him governor instead of the incumbent who received more votes.
The Vermont Constitution mandates that when candidates for governor, lieutenant governor or treasurer fail to receive more than 50 percent of the vote, the state legislature chooses the winner when it convenes in January.
In the governor’s race, the November election results show incumbent Democrat Peter Shumlin got 46.4 percent and Republican challenger Scott Milne 45.1 percent. The five other candidates received a total of 8.2 percent.
Traditionally, the losing candidate concedes and the vote in the legislature is a formality. But Milne contends when you add up all the opposing votes it’s clear that Vermonters wanted to oust his opponent. “It’s sort of a red-herring about how there’s a long historical precedent of conceding. I won nine out of fourteen counties. The fact that I won 60 percent of the precincts. The fact that Peter Shumlin won Burlington big and if you took Burlington out of the rest of Vermont I won the entire rest of the state. All those things are irrelevant. What the Constitution requires the legislators to do is to vote free of political influence for what they think is gonna be best for Vermont. So I would seriously take a look at myself if I were a legislator. And that’s what I’m hoping people will do.”
Milne says lawmakers are not mandated to vote for the top vote getter and believes the message from the election is that Vermonters want change. “Even if I had a slim chance of winning I feel very strongly that the hundred thousand people that voted for, and arguably maybe the couple hundred thousand people that would like to see a change in leadership from the governor, would like to see this discussion continue and have the Legislature bring closure to it as they’re required to by law. So I would be moving forward whether I thought I was gonna win for sure or whether I thought there was little chance I was gonna win.”
Governor Shumlin is in Los Angeles for a meeting of the Democratic Governors’ Association. He issued a statement noting he was honored to have received the most votes and “continue(s) to believe that the legislature will honor the long democratic tradition of electing the candidate who received the most votes.” Vermont House Speaker Democrat Shap Smith believes the Legislature will re-elect Shumlin. “My sense in discussions with people of all parties is that they will follow what has been the historical precedent and vote for the person who got the most votes. And I sense that people continue to feel that the person who got the most votes is the person who should be elected. In fact Scott Milne, just two weeks before the election, said that he believed that that was what the legislature should do should it be faced with that problem.”
But Vermont Republican Party Chair David Sunderland supports Milne’s decision to move to the legislative vote and says his Republican colleague has a chance to be elected. “The majority of Vermonters didn’t vote for Governor Shumlin. He did not get 50 percent of the vote and the majority of people wanted somebody other than Governor Shumlin. And I think also there’s a reason for that. It’s the condition of our state, the condition of our economy, the prospect of a 2.5 billion dollar tax hike in order to pay for government-run taxpayer funded health care in Vermont. There’s many reasons that Vermonters are deeply concerned with the condition of our state and are looking for a change.”
Sunderland acknowledges that the majority of voters also did not vote for Milne. “Well it’s true but I think that the majority of Vermonters voted for somebody other than Governor Shumlin and the majority of them voted for change. The majority of them wanted something different. Someone different. And of those alternate choices Scott Milne got by far the largest number of votes.”
The House and Senate secret-ballot is scheduled for January 7th.
