Speaking Wednesday in the foyer of the Vermont Statehouse, Republican governor-elect Phil Scott called his 8.6 percentage point victory over Democrat Sue Minter a “mandate” for his agenda of fiscal moderation.
There can be no doubt that Scott won a mandate to govern. Unofficial results from the Secretary of State’s Office show that he defeated Minter by a resounding 27,555 votes — or 52 to 43.4 percent. A town-by-town analysis conducted by Seven Days demonstrates that his victory cut across nearly every corner of the state: He won 11 out of 14 counties and 193 of 246 towns and cities.
But the message from the electorate appears more nuanced than Scott would have it. The same voters who sent a moderate conservative to the governor’s office also dispatched a liberal activist, Sen. David Zuckerman (P/D-Chittenden), to the lieutenant governor’s office — and wholeheartedly embraced the rest of the Democratic slate. In the legislature, Democrats held on to their near-supermajority status in the Vermont House and picked up two additional seats in the Vermont Senate, leaving Republicans with just seven out of 30 positions in the upper chamber.
If anything, the results of the 2016 election demonstrate that Vermonters, as always, are perfectly willing to split their tickets.
Take Essex, which cast the second-greatest number of ballots in the state. There, Scott won 1,305 more votes than Minter, while Zuckerman picked up 755 more than Republican lieutenant gubernatorial nominee Randy Brock. The town backed Democratic attorney general candidate T.J. Donovan and Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) by large margins over Republican opponents — and voted for Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton over Republican president-elect Donald Trump 64 to 29 percent. Essex also tossed out Republican incumbent Rep. Paul Dame (R-Essex Junction) in favor of a Democrat.
If Scott’s victory was broad, Trump’s rejection by Vermont voters was overwhelming. The president-elect won just 29.8 percent of the vote, compared to 55.7 percent for Clinton. Indeed, Clinton won 11,765 more votes in Vermont than Scott did.
A significant number of Vermonters — 14.5 percent — rejected both major party nominees. Of those, according to preliminary estimates from the Secretary of State’s Office, some 18,183 voters — or 5.7 percent — wrote in Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) for president. (In Burlington, Sanders’ hometown, he won at least 964 write-in votes.)
Trump won more votes than Clinton in just 61 of 246 Vermont towns and cities. (They tied, 56 to 56 votes, in West Haven.) The Republican won an outright majority in just 32 towns — most of them in the Northeast Kingdom counties of Essex and Orleans. Trump found the most support in the tiny burgs of Holland (65 percent), Searsburg (63 percent), Lowell (63 percent), Morgan (62 percent) and Victory (60 percent).
In 22 Vermont towns, Trump won less than 20 percent of the vote. Norwich, where Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook grew up, voted 88 to 8 percent for Clinton. Trump’s next weakest towns included Montpelier (10 percent), Burlington (11 percent), Weybridge (13 percent) and Putney (14 percent).
Of the state’s 421,629 registered voters, nearly 69 percent turned out to vote Tuesday. The town of Windham took the prize for highest turnout, at 91 percent. Only 46 percent of Newport voters showed up. In the gubernatorial race, Scott won all but Chittenden, Windham and Windsor counties. He drew his greatest strength from Rutland County, where he won 8,286 more votes than Minter, and Franklin County, where he beat her by 8,087 votes. In Washington County, where both candidates live and which cast the second greatest number of ballots in the state, Scott won by a 3,224-vote margin.
Minter performed best in liberal Windham County, netting 5,288 votes over Scott. She narrowly prevailed in Windsor County, another Democratic bastion, with just a 735-vote advantage. In Chittenden County, by far the most populous region of the state, Minter failed to run up the numbers the way any winning Democrat must. She won 53 percent of the vote there, winning by a net of 4,713 votes.
The Democratic gubernatorial candidate’s best towns and cities mirrored the presidential race: Norwich (75 percent), Putney (72 percent), Brattleboro (71 percent), Marlboro (71 percent) and Burlington (68 percent). She won by the most votes in Burlington (7,918), Brattleboro (2,965), Montpelier (1,654), Norwich (1,267) and South Burlington (977).
In total, only 52 municipalities went Minter’s way.
Scott’s strongest support came from Brunswick (83 percent), Irasburg (75 percent), Holland (76 percent), Granby (69 percent) and Barre Town (74 percent). He netted the most votes in Barre Town (2,373), Milton (2,008), Rutland City (1,579), Essex (1,305) and Colchester (1,294).
The third candidate in the race, Liberty Union nominee Bill Lee, took 2.8 percent of the vote overall. He did best in Searsburg, where 10 percent backed the retired Red Sox pitcher.
Minter struggled to win many towns and cities where Democrats otherwise prevailed. In 210 municipalities, both Leahy and Donovan defeated their respective Republican opponents, Scott Milne and Deb Bucknam. Of those, 116 voted for Zuckerman, while only 52 backed Minter.
Related Stories
Got something to say?
Send a letter to the editor and we'll publish your feedback in print!
Many left-learning Democrats and Progressives voted for Scott, because of their unhappiness with the Democratic positions on many issues. These range from VT Gas, Big Wind, Marijuana Legalization, lack of enforcement of environmental regulations, the F-35, and quite a few more. SevenDays article on Ed Stanak last week highlighted this, as did the follow-up comments.
It is very telling how someone firmly on the left, Zuckerman, won for Lt. Governor, while Republican Scott won the gubernatorial seat.
Many people are unhappy with the Democratic leadership. They have alienated much of their base with what is perceived as hypocritical stances on a large range of issues. This makes people believe they cater to lobbyists, not the will or benefit of the people. This hits hard at integrity, which typically decides races.
Probably the most notable issue recently is how the Democrats are proponents of Big Wind and large towers on our ridges, even though they have major environmental implications, while at the same time support the VT Gas pipeline and the expansion of fossil fuels. This dichotomy makes no sense. There are a host of other issues in which the Democrats have similar opposing stances that defy rationality.
The once great Republican state of Vermont has gone down hill.. We have had a lot of liberals moved into our laid back friendly state,,We welcome them and they pulled the wool over our eyes, by taking over our state and changing it into the state they left..
Also the liberals are all crying like babies because President Trump won the election..he didn’t sell out/bought off to the Clinton’s like Sanders did..it’s been proven that the DNC rigged the votes against Sanders..Trump won fair and square,he couldn’t be bought off..The liberals need to put on their big boy/girl pants and stand together..even the liberal Vermont ones..Mr Trump won get over it..There no need to protest, destroy things call names or deface property..You don’t see the Republicans doing it.maybe because we are more mature..We didn’t riot when obama ran, and destroy this country..I’m so sick of these whiny liberals..
Mr. Trump did not win the election, unless you count tyranny of the minority as a win. He “won” on the technicality of electoral votes, an archaic, useless vestige of our broken electoral system; a majority of voting Americans rejected him.
I have no doubt that Mr. Trump’s presidency will be an unmitigated disaster for our country, and that even his ignorant supporters will soon regret their choice when they find that his deeds do not match the promises from his bloated and bloviating mouth.
Greenman48..so you hate Trump, saying he didn’t win .but you would want the KILLER Clinton..who lies, who’s a traitor,a thief, who would continue to run our country as that POS in the WH has done for 8 yrs.. Man you must really hate this country..and to call his supporters “ignorant supporters “.. Well you know what that’s ok, because I’m not a Commie, draft dodger Socialist.. I’m not a crook, liar, thief and TRAITOR to my country..but what’s important I’M NOT A DEMOCRAT LIBERAL!!!!! I stand up for my country, Republicans didn’t go out in the streets and riot, destroy, steal, beat people because a black man became a president..who has divided this country like never before..So put on your big boy pants and deal with it.. I’m not ignorant I’m DEPLORABLE and a republican and PROUD of it!!!!!
GreenMan48, I am just as unhappy as Trump’s win as you are, but, unfortunately, you cannot seriously claim his win represents the “tyranny of the minority.” He and Hillary each got 60 million votes. Hillary got only a tiny fraction more than Trump did.
http://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/2016/11/p…
Donna the dog (your profile picture), I want to tell you some things. I don’t care or mind that you’re republican and that you support Trump. This is a free country. Now first of all, liberals are not rioting because they don’t like Trump’s policies. Although they are repulsive to us, he hasn’t enacted them yet. No, we’re rioting because the man is a sick f*** in our eyes and we can’t stand the thought of him representing us in any way: the meaning of “not my president”. We’re rioting because people who we love are being gleefully disregarded, disrespected, or shunned and we refuse to accept that, not that we refuse to accept the outcome of democracy. We’re rioting because he’s more unpredictable than any present before him in history, his rhetoric is filled with stupid hate, and because of that we are very scared. I’m surprised you’re not, actually. It’s a dangerous time in the world, he is hated by most world leaders, and he is not a very bright diplomat. But of course, that’s just my opinion.
By the way, forget the Clintons, if you think Donald Trump wasn’t “bought off” then you need to look at his cabinet appointments and pour ice water over your head.