Ballotpedia's 2012 General Election Review Articles: Vermont State Executive Officials

December 13, 2012

By Jennifer Springer

Montpilier, Vermont: Six state executive positions were up for election this year in the state of Vermont:

• Governor of Vermont
• Lieutenant Governor of Vermont
• Attorney General of Vermont
• Vermont Secretary of State
• Vermont Treasurer
• Vermont State Auditor

Of these six positions, incumbent auditor Thomas Salmon was the only incumbent who did not run for re-election in 2012. Salmon said he can retire with satisfaction after having achieved all the goals he set for the office, and plans to move on to "new challenges."

Three candidates filed for Governor of Vermont at the outset of the 2012 election season, incumbent Peter Shumlin (D), state Senator Randy Brock (R) and Martha Abbott (Vermont Progressive Party), and none faced a primary challenger.

Martha Abbott, the Progressive Party nominee, who was nominally unopposed in the primary, dropped out of the race one week after the primary election. Her candidacy was a purely strategic maneuver to prevent another member of her party from winning, and she said she wanted to yield her party's support to help Shumlin win re-election.

Three minor-party candidates - Emily Peyton (Independent) and Cris Ericson (United States Marijuana) and Dave Eagle (Liberty Union) - also made their way onto the ballot for governor this year.

Lieutenant governor Phillip Scott won re-election in 2012. He ran unopposed in the primary election on August 28th and defeated Cassandra Gekas (D) and Ben Mitchell (Liberty Union) in the general election.

Democratic incumbent secretary of state Jim Condos defeated Liberty Union Party candidate Mary Alice Herbert in the 2012 general election.

Incumbent attorney general Bill Sorrell successfully defended his seat in the 2012 election. The Democratic attorney general was first appointed by former Gov. Howard Dean in 1997. Sorrell, who served two terms as Chittenden County Attorney State's attorney prior to taking office as the Vermont's top law enforcement official, has won re-election, without serious contest, since his initial appointment. Sorrell is the longest-serving AG in the state's history.

Sorrell faced one challenger, Chittenden County State's Attorney T.J. Donovan, in the August 28th Democratic primary election, which he narrowly won. The former assembled a crack team of Vermont-native experts to guide his "grassroots" campaign, including veteran Governor and Lieutenant Governor campaigner and fundraising maven Sam Winship as his campaign manager.

Incumbent treasurer Elizabeth Pearce won re-election in 2012. The campaign for treasurer between Pearce and Republican challenger Wendy Wilton, both of whom ran unopposed in their parties' primaries, has become the most hotly contested statewide race of the season.

Democratic candidate Doug Hoffer won election to the position of auditor. Hoffer ran unopposed in the August 28 Democratic primary. He defeated Republican Vince Illuzzi (who was unopposed in his party's primary), and Liberty Union Party candidate Jerry Levy in the general election.

Here are the candidates who won election:

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Governor

See also: Vermont gubernatorial election, 2012

Governor of Vermont General Election, 2012
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Peter Shumlin Incumbent	57.8%	170,749
	Republican	Randy Brock	37.6%	110,940
	Independent	Emily Peyton	2%	5,868
	United States Marijuana	Cris Ericson	1.9%	5,583
	Liberty Union	Dave Eagle	0.4%	1,303
	Independent	Write-in	0.3%	969
Total Votes				295,412
Election results via Vermont Secretary of State

Lieutenant Governor

See also: Vermont gubernatorial election, 2012

Lieutenant Governor of Vermont General Election, 2012
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Phillip Scott Incumbent	57.1%	162,787
	Democratic	Cassandra Gekas	40.4%	115,015
	Liberty Union	Ben Mitchell	2.4%	6,975
	Independent	Write-in	0.1%	257
Total Votes				285,034
Election results via Vermont Secretary of State

Attorney General

See also: Vermont attorney general election, 2012

Attorney General of Vermont General Election, 2012
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Bill Sorrell Incumbent	57.9%	164,441
	Republican	Jack McMullen	33.3%	94,588
	Progressive	Ed Stanak	5.5%	15,629
	Liberty Union	Rosemarie Jackowski	3%	8,533
	Independent	Write-in	0.2%	588
Total Votes				283,779
Election results via Vermont Secretary of State

Secretary of State

See also: Vermont secretary of state election, 2012

Vermont Secretary of State General Election, 2012
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Jim Condos Incumbent	86.6%	225,801
	Liberty Union	Mary Alice Herbert	13.1%	34,105
	Independent	Write-in	0.3%	876
Total Votes				260,782
Election results via Vermont Secretary of State

Treasurer

See also: Vermont down ballot state executive elections, 2012

Vermont Treasurer General Election, 2012
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Elizabeth Pearce Incumbent	52.3%	147,700
	Republican	Wendy Wilton	40.7%	114,947
	Progressive	Don Schramm	4.4%	12,497
	Liberty Union	Jessica Diamondstone	2.5%	6,939
	Independent	Write-in	0.1%	198
Total Votes				282,281
Election results via Vermont Secretary of State

Auditor

See also: Vermont down ballot state executive elections, 2012

Vermont State Auditor General Election, 2012
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Doug Hoffer	51.3%	140,805
	Republican	Vince Illuzzi	45.1%	123,806
	Liberty Union	Jerry Levy	3.4%	9,381
	Independent	Write-in	0.1%	276
Total Votes				274,268
Election results via Vermont Secretary of State

National picture

States with 2012 executive elections

There were 94 total seats up for election across 22 states this year, including 11 Governors, 9 Lt. Governors, 10 Attorneys General, 7 Secretaries of State and 57 down ballot seats.

• Before the election, 51 of these offices were held by Democrats, 38 were held by Republicans, and the remaining 4 positions were held by non partisan or Independent officers . After the election, Democrats hold 49 (net loss of 2 seats), Republicans 42 (net gain of 4 seats), and Independents/non partisans only 1 (loss of 3).
• Of the 69 incumbents who ran for election in 2012, 7 were defeated-6 Democrat and 1 Republican. Democratic Montana Superintendent of Public Instruction Denise Juneau narrowly escaped that fate, having had to wait for her challenger to cancel a self-financed recount on December 11, 2012 before being named the official winner.
• Out of 25 total open seats, 13 were won by Democrats, 11 went to Republican, and 1 went to an Independent (nonpartisan) candidate. In all, there are 34 new state executives as a result of the election.
• From the gubernatorial perspective, after the November 2012 election, there are 30 Republican and 19 Democratic governors. If the GOP had taken five governor seats from Democrats on November 6, that would have given the party 34 -- the most for Republicans since 1922. As of December 2012, the number of Democratic governors in the country is at its lowest since 2001.

2012 State Executive Election Partisan Breakdown
Party	Before 2012 Election	After 2012 Election	Net Change
Democratic	51	50	-1
Republican	38	43	+5
Independent (Nonpartisan)	4	1	-3
TOTALS	931 vacant	94

2012 State Executive Election Analysis
Party	Open Seat Winners	Defeated Incumbents	New State Executives
Democratic	13	6	15
Republican	11	1	18
Independent (Nonpartisan)	1	0	1
TOTALS	25	7	34

See also

• Ballotpedia's 2012 General Election Review Articles: Vermont Congressional Seats
• Ballotpedia:2012 general election preview articles
• November 6, 2012 election results
• State executive official elections, 2012
• Ballotpedia:Statewide projections for the November 6, 2012 elections
• Vermont state executive official elections, 2012
• Vermont down ballot state executive elections, 2012
• Vermont gubernatorial election, 2012
• Vermont lieutenant gubernatorial election, 2012
• Vermont secretary of state election, 2012
• Vermont attorney general election, 2012
• Swearing-in dates of state executives elected on November 6, 2012

Footnotes