Vermont held its statewide primary Tuesday, setting the stage for November’s general election.
Unofficial results from the Vermont Secretary of State’s office show that John Rodgers won 55 to 34 percent over Greg Thayer in the Republican primary for lieutenant governor. Rodgers, who has previously served in the Vermont House and Senate as a Democrat, says he has always worked in a nonpartisan way to make sure legislation benefits average Vermonters.
“I’m a guy that grew up here in the Northeast Kingdom on a dairy farm and I’ve worked in the trades my whole life,” relates Rodgers. “I am more like the average Vermonter than David Zuckerman, who grew up in Brookline, Massachusetts one of the wealthiest zip codes in America. Child of millionaires. So there’s a massive difference between the two of us and I believe a massive difference between who we will represent. Affordability is the top of the heap and that’s what I want to focus on, quality of life. I want Vermonters to be able to afford the house they live in. We need to help bring income levels up and bring the cost of living down.”
Rodgers faces incumbent Democrat/Progressive David Zuckerman, who’s seeking his fourth nonsequential term. Zuckerman prevailed in his Democratic primary against Thomas Renner 55 to 36 percent. In a statement Zuckerman thanked those who voted and said the results show people want collaboration and “public officials who fight for the working class and who advocate for equitable taxation, housing, and environmental policies that support everyone.”
In the Democratic race for governor, Vermont Commission on Women co-chair Esther Charlestin handily won, 47 to 18, percent against activist Peter Duval. Charlestin says she is excited by the margin of her primary. win.
“Moving forward I will continue to do what I’ve been doing which is getting the message out and really letting Vermonters know who I am, what I’m about,” Charlestin said. “And folks have gotten the introduction and now focusing on the issues: climate resilient communities, education and making sure that all folks can thrive here with attainable housing. This is an uphill battle and I’m ready for it.”
In his concession statement Duval said he was confident Charlestin could lead Vermont to a “more sustainable and unified future,” thanked his supporters and urged them to support Charlestin.
Incumbent Republican Phil Scott, seeking his fifth two-year term, had no primary challenger.
Middlebury College Professor of Political Science Bert Johnson says it’s hard to make much of a low turnout primary with few compelling contests.
“But I would say that there does not seem to be a large amount of discontent with incumbents,” notes Johnson. “Incumbents seem to have done well pretty much across the board and so it doesn’t seem like there’s any sort of rumblings of rebellion among the electorate.”
Johnson found the Republican race for lieutenant governor the most intriguing.
“Where John Rodgers, a more moderate Republican and actually former Democrat, was running against a more solid supporter of President Trump, Gregory Thayer. And Rodgers defeated Thayer fairly decisively,” Johnson said. “It was clearly a battle between these two different parts of the Republican party and it was just interesting to me as a scholar to see what the results of that was.”
The general election is Tuesday, November 5th. Absentee ballots will be automatically mailed to all active registered voters no later than October 1st.
