Republican Gov. Phil Scott will attend an October 2 fundraiser for two state Senate candidates from Addison County.

Two independent candidates, Marie Audet and Paul Ralston.

Conspicuous by his absence from the invitation: Peter Briggs, a 28-year-old selectboard member from Addison and the Republican candidate in the Senate race.

Audet and Ralston's joint campaign committee organized the event. The independents announced their candidacies together in late July.

Ralston, a former Democratic state representative, has said that he supports Scott. He explained in July that he and Audet teamed up because they would be "running against a party establishment and that party has a lot of resources."

The two major-party candidates for Vermont governor debated the issues Friday morning for the first time in the general election campaign. Republican Gov. Phil Scott and Democratic challenger Christine Hallquist held a civil, issues-based discussion that occasionally produced some sharp words — but only over policy disagreements. Personal attacks were notably absent.

The two came off as knowledgeable and articulate, and offered clear policy agendas for Vermont. Hallquist, the first openly transgender person to win a major party's nomination for governor, referred to her gender identity only once or twice; Scott never mentioned it at all.

The debate was broadcast live on WDEV Radio's Dave Gram Show, and is available via podcast. It took place in an open-air gazebo at the Tunbridge World's Fair, with occasional sounds from animals and equipment in the background. Vendors touting a cornucopia of deep-fried delights filled the surrounding area. Gram and VTDigger.org founder and editor Anne Galloway served as moderators.

The two candidates often agreed — at least in terms of policy goals. Both advocated for increased job opportunities and boosting the state's population, especially among younger people and families with children. Both endorsed Vermont's goal of 90 percent renewable energy by the year 2050. Both emphasized the importance of improving water quality in Vermont's lakes and waterways. They both oppose the idea of a carbon tax, although Scott's opposition is absolute and Hallquist says she opposes it "for now."

Where they differed was on how to achieve their goals. Scott continued to repeat his handful of core talking points: affordability, no new taxes or fees, growing the economy and reining in the cost of public education. He did not specifically promise to oppose any additional taxes or fees in his second term (should he be elected), but he made clear his general opposition to raising new revenue.

Hallquist advocated for public investment as a way to make progress, and left herself open to tax hikes when necessary. "I'm not afraid to raise taxes for a good purpose," she said. "I will find a responsible way to pay for it, but we need paid family leave."

Christine Hallquist's victory in the August 14 Democratic gubernatorial primary brought a flood of national — and global — attention to her candidacy. That night, she became the first openly transgender candidate to win a major party's nomination for governor. The resultant publicity is making the money flow as never before.

September 1 marked another campaign finance reporting deadline for Vermont candidates. Between August 15 and September 1, a little more than two weeks' time, Hallquist raised more than $71,000. That's nearly half her total for the preceding five months of campaigning. And a Friday campaign press release boasted that Hallquist had received at least one donation from every state in the union.

It was a welcome boost, since she exited the primary with essentially no money in the bank. Even so, she spent almost as much in late August as she raised, and enters September with roughly $14,000 in cash on hand.

Her opponent, Gov. Phil Scott, continued to fundraise at a rather leisurely pace. His total for the second half of August was $41,000 — and he spent a bit more than that. He has about $50,000 in cash on hand, plus another $18,000 left over from his 2016 campaign.

The Vermont Republican Party's state committee approved a slate of nominees for statewide office at a not-very-democratic special meeting Wednesday night in Montpelier. The meeting was necessitated after political gadfly H. Brooke Paige ran for, and won, six separate Republican nominations in the August 14 primary — for U.S. Senate, U.S. House, attorney general, auditor, secretary of state and treasurer.

Last Friday, Paige withdrew from every nomination except secretary of state. The VTGOP had to choose new nominees by August 31, the state's deadline for adding candidates to the November ballot. Only members of the Republican state committee were eligible to vote.

After an hour of wrangling over the rules, the committee quickly filled the available slots. Two men faced off for U.S. Senate: Manchester real estate broker Lawrence Zupan and Dan Feliciano, a 2016 Republican candidate for auditor who also ran for governor in 2014, as a Libertarian. Zupan bested Feliciano 56 votes to 12. (One vote was cast for "Douglas," an apparent reference to former governor Jim Douglas.) Zupan will now challenge Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)

"I'm going to invite Sen. Sanders to have eight debates with me," Zupan said when asked how he would take on a very popular and deep-pocketed incumbent. "I think the people of Vermont miss Bernie. He's been everyplace but Vermont, it seems, and I'd like to invite him to revisit the state that launched his political career."

Zupan depicted Sanders as a "socialist" with "a complete misunderstanding of how the world works and how economics works. It's a pity that he doesn't love the American Revolution as much as he loves his imaginary new revolution."

Anya Tynio, 25, a sales representative for the Newport Daily Express, won the nod for U.S. representative on a voice vote. Tynio had been a candidate in the Republican primary, but lost to Paige. She will face U.S. Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.). If she wins, she would be the first woman elected to Congress by the state of Vermont, but she faces long odds against a popular incumbent.