Almost a year and a half before election day, Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin announced this afternoon he will not run for reelection. As WAMC’s North Country Bureau Chief Pat Bradley reports, the stunning news has shaken up the political scene in the Green Mountain State.
Standing in front of the bust of Abraham Lincoln in the Vermont Statehouse and surrounded by administration officials, Vermont’s Democratic governor outlined a litany of accomplishments over the course of his two and a half terms in office. Shumlin said his administration has added jobs, closed Vermont Yankee and enhanced solar, broadened broadband access, repaired transportation infrastructure and put the state on track to control health care spending.
But then came the news that started trickling out minutes earlier: he will not seek another term. “In the weeks following another productive legislative session I had a chance to reflect on the progress that we’ve made since taking office. I believe that we will have accomplished, and in many ways and in many cases exceeded my expectations, the work we set out to do when I became governor. I am announcing today for those reasons that I will not be a candidate for a fourth term in 2016.”
Middlebury College professor Emeritus of Political Science Eric Davis is not surprised by the governor’s decision. “He narrowly won election to a third term last year with less than 50 percent of the vote. He’s lost the support of Progressives because of his decision not to go forward with single-payer health care, which had been his signature issue. One public poll done by Castleton earlier this year showed that his approval rating was below 50 percent. And I think he decided that the risk of not winning was sufficiently high that he would simply concentrate on governing for the next eighteen months and leave the democratic candidacy for governor to somebody else.”
Vermont House Minority Leader Republican Don Turner describes Shumlin’s decision to leave as good for Vermonters. “Governor Shumlin is a pretty smooth politician and he knows when it’s time to get out. I think he really understood that there was no way that he would win another election in Vermont after the close call last election.”
Middlebury College Political Science Chair Bert Johnson notes that despite the governor putting a good face on his work, Shumlin will probably be remembered for just three things. “One is the response to Hurricane Irene, number two is the health care policy situation and number three is opiate addiction. And I think you’ve got to say that the response to Irene he did about as well as could be expected. With respect to health care that has to be counted as a failure because he did not proceed with single-payer. Then with opiates the jury’s out. He definitely made a national splash. But it remains to be seen how effective those policies are going to be in the long run.”
Several names are surfacing as possible gubernatorial candidates including Republican Lieutenant Governor Phil Scott and Democratic House Speaker Shap Smith, who says he is “seriously considering” a run.
Vermont and New Hampshire are the only states with two-year gubernatorial terms. Audio of Shumlin’s announcement is courtesy of a live stream from the Burlington Free Press.
