Your feedback ensures we stay focused on the facts that matter to you most—take our survey

United States Senate election in Vermont, 2022 (August 9 Democratic primary)

From Ballotpedia
Jump to: navigation, search



2024
2018
U.S. Senate, Vermont
Ballotpedia Election Coverage Badge.png
Democratic primary
Republican primary
General election
Election details
Filing deadline: May 26, 2022
Primary: August 9, 2022
General: November 8, 2022

Pre-election incumbent:
Patrick Leahy (Democratic)
How to vote
Poll times: Open between 5 a.m. to 10 a.m.; close at 7 p.m.
Voting in Vermont
Race ratings
Cook Political Report: Solid Democratic
Inside Elections: Solid Democratic
Sabato's Crystal Ball: Safe Democratic
Ballotpedia analysis
U.S. Senate battlegrounds
U.S. House battlegrounds
Federal and state primary competitiveness
Ballotpedia's Election Analysis Hub, 2022
See also
U.S. Senate, Vermont
U.S. SenateAt-large
Vermont elections, 2022
U.S. Congress elections, 2022
U.S. Senate elections, 2022
U.S. House elections, 2022

A Democratic Party primary took place on August 9, 2022, in Vermont to determine which Democratic candidate would run in the state's general election on November 8, 2022.

Peter Welch advanced from the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate Vermont.

Candidate filing deadline Primary election General election
May 26, 2022
August 9, 2022
November 8, 2022


Heading into the election, the incumbent was Patrick Leahy (Democrat), who was first elected in 1974.

A primary election is an election in which registered voters select a candidate that they believe should be a political party's candidate for elected office to run in the general election. They are also used to choose convention delegates and party leaders. Primaries are state-level and local-level elections that take place prior to a general election. Vermont utilizes an open primary system, in which registered voters do not have to be members of a party to vote in that party's primary.[1][2]

For information about which offices are nominated via primary election, see this article.

This page focuses on Vermont's United States Senate Democratic primary. For more in-depth information on the state's Republican primary and the general election, see the following pages:

HOTP-Dem-Ad-1-small.png

Candidates and election results

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. Senate Vermont

Peter Welch defeated Isaac Evans-Frantz and Niki Thran in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate Vermont on August 9, 2022.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Peter Welch
Peter Welch
 
87.0
 
86,603
Image of Isaac Evans-Frantz
Isaac Evans-Frantz Candidate Connection
 
7.3
 
7,230
Image of Niki Thran
Niki Thran
 
5.1
 
5,104
 Other/Write-in votes
 
0.6
 
599

Total votes: 99,536
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

News and conflicts in this primary

This race was featured in The Heart of the Primaries, a newsletter capturing stories related to conflicts within each major party. Click here to read more about conflict in this and other 2022 Democratic Senate primaries. Click here to subscribe to the newsletter.

Campaign finance

This section contains campaign finance figures from the Federal Election Commission covering all candidate fundraising and spending in this election.[3] It does not include information on fundraising before the current campaign cycle or on spending by satellite groups. The numbers in this section are updated as candidates file new campaign finance reports. Candidates for Congress are required to file financial reports on a quarterly basis, as well as two weeks before any primary, runoff, or general election in which they will be on the ballot and upon the termination of any campaign committees.[4] Click here to view the reporting schedule for candidates for U.S. Congress in 2022.

U.S. Congress campaign reporting schedule, 2022
Report Close of books Filing deadline
Year-end 2021 12/31/2021 1/31/2022
April quarterly 3/31/2022 4/15/2022
July quarterly 6/30/2022 7/15/2022
October quarterly 9/30/2022 10/15/2022
Pre-general 10/19/2022 10/27/2022
Post-general 11/28/2022 12/08/2022
Year-end 2022 12/31/2022 1/31/2023


Name Party Receipts* Disbursements** Cash on hand Date
Isaac Evans-Frantz Democratic Party $123,835 $105,761 $18,074 As of December 31, 2022
Niki Thran Democratic Party $28,416 $28,273 $143 As of December 31, 2022
Peter Welch Democratic Party $5,390,837 $3,431,166 $1,959,670 As of December 31, 2022

Source: Federal Elections Commission, "Campaign finance data," 2022. This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).

* According to the FEC, "Receipts are anything of value (money, goods, services or property) received by a political committee."
** According to the FEC, a disbursement "is a purchase, payment, distribution, loan, advance, deposit or gift of money or anything of value to influence a federal election," plus other kinds of payments not made to influence a federal election.


Ballot access requirements

The table below details filing requirements for U.S. Senate candidates in Vermont in the 2022 election cycle. For additional information on candidate ballot access requirements in Vermont, click here.

Filing requirements for U.S. Senate candidates, 2022
State Office Party Signatures required Filing fee Filing deadline Source
Vermont U.S. Senate Ballot-qualified party 500 N/A 5/26/2022 Source
Vermont U.S. Senate Unaffiliated 500 N/A 8/4/2022 Source

Election analysis

Click the tabs below to view information about demographics, past elections, and partisan control of the state.

  • Presidential elections - Information about presidential elections in the state.
  • Statewide elections - Information about recent U.S. Senate and gubernatorial elections in the state.
  • State partisanship - The partisan makeup of the state's congressional delegation and state government.
  • Demographics - Information about the state's demographics and how they compare to the country as a whole.

Presidential elections

See also: Presidential voting trends in Vermont and The Cook Political Report's Partisan Voter Index

Cook PVI by congressional district

Cook Political Report's Partisan Voter Index for Vermont, 2022
District Incumbent Party PVI
Vermont's At-Large Open Electiondot.png Democratic D+16


2020 presidential results by 2022 congressional district lines

2020 presidential results in congressional districts based on 2022 district lines, Vermont[5]
District Joe Biden Democratic Party Donald Trump Republican Party
Vermont's At-Large 66.4% 30.8%


2012-2020

How a state's counties vote in a presidential election and the size of those counties can provide additional insights into election outcomes at other levels of government including statewide and congressional races. Below, four categories are used to describe each county's voting pattern over the 2012, 2016, and 2020 presidential elections: Solid, Trending, Battleground, and New. Click [show] on the table below for examples:


Following the 2020 presidential election, 99.1% of Vermonters lived in one of the state's 13 Solid Democratic counties, which voted for the Democratic presidential candidate in every election from 2012 to 2020, and 0.9% lived Essex County, the state's one Trending Republican county. Overall, Vermont was Solid Democratic, having voted for Barack Obama (D) in 2012, Hillary Clinton (D) in 2016, and Joe Biden (D) in 2020. Use the table below to view the total number of each type of county in Vermont following the 2020 election as well as the overall percentage of the state population located in each county type.

Historical voting trends

Vermont presidential election results (1900-2020)

  • 9 Democratic wins
  • 22 Republican wins
Year 1900 1904 1908 1912 1916 1920 1924 1928 1932 1936 1940 1944 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016 2020
Winning Party R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R D R R R R R R D D D D D D D D

Statewide elections

This section details the results of the five most recent U.S. Senate and gubernatorial elections held in the state.

U.S. Senate elections

See also: List of United States Senators from Vermont

The table below details the vote in the five most recent U.S. Senate races in Vermont.

U.S. Senate election results in Vermont
Race Winner Runner up
2018 67.4%Grey.png (Independent) 27.5%Republican Party
2016 61.3%Democratic Party 33.0%Republican Party
2012 71.0%Grey.png (Independent) 24.9%Republican Party
2010 64.4%Democratic Party 30.9%Republican Party
2006 65.4%Democratic Party 32.3%Republican Party
Average 65.9 29.7

Gubernatorial elections

See also: Governor of Vermont

The table below details the vote in the five most recent gubernatorial elections in Vermont.

Gubernatorial election results in Vermont
Race Winner Runner up
2020 68.5%Republican Party 27.3%Grey.png (Progressive Party)
2018 55.2%Republican Party 40.2%Democratic Party
2016 52.9%Republican Party 44.2%Democratic Party
2014 46.4%Democratic Party 45.1%Republican Party
2012 57.8%Democratic Party 37.6%Republican Party
Average 56.2 38.9

State partisanship

Congressional delegation

The table below displays the partisan composition of Vermont's congressional delegation as of November 2022.

Congressional Partisan Breakdown from Vermont, November 2022
Party U.S. Senate U.S. House Total
Democratic 1 1 2
Republican 0 0 0
Independent 1 0 1
Vacancies 0 0 0
Total 2 1 3

State executive

The table below displays the officeholders in Vermont's top four state executive offices as of November 2022.

State executive officials in Vermont, November 2022
Office Officeholder
Governor Republican Party Phil Scott
Lieutenant Governor Democratic Party Molly Gray
Secretary of State Democratic Party Jim Condos
Attorney General Republican Party Susanne Young

State legislature

The tables below highlight the partisan composition of the Vermont State Legislature as of November 2022.

Vermont State Senate

Party As of November 2022
     Democratic Party 21
     Republican Party 7
     Vermont Progressive Party 2
     Vacancies 0
Total 30

Vermont House of Representatives

Party As of November 2022
     Democratic Party 93
     Republican Party 46
     Vermont Progressive Party 5
     Independent 5
     Vacancies 1
Total 150

Trifecta control

As of November 2022, Vermont was a divided government, with Republicans controlling the governorship and Democratic majorities in both chambers of the state legislature. The table below displays the historical trifecta status of the state.

Vermont Party Control: 1992-2022
Ten years of Democratic trifectas  •  No Republican trifectas
Scroll left and right on the table below to view more years.

Year 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22
Governor D D D D D D D D D D D R R R R R R R R D D D D D D R R R R R R
Senate D R R R R D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D
House R D D D D D D D D R R R R D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D

Demographics

The table below details demographic data in Vermont and compares it to the broader United States as of 2019.

Demographic Data for Vermont
Vermont United States
Population 625,741 308,745,538
Land area (sq mi) 9,217 3,531,905
Race and ethnicity**
White 94.2% 72.5%
Black/African American 1.4% 12.7%
Asian 1.7% 5.5%
Native American 0.3% 0.8%
Pacific Islander 0.1% 0.2%
Other (single race) 0.4% 4.9%
Multiple 2% 3.3%
Hispanic/Latino 1.9% 18%
Education
High school graduation rate 92.7% 88%
College graduation rate 38% 32.1%
Income
Median household income $61,973 $62,843
Persons below poverty level 10.9% 13.4%
Source: population provided by U.S. Census Bureau, "Decennial Census" (2010). Other figures provided by U.S. Census Bureau, "American Community Survey" (5-year estimates 2014-2019).
**Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here.


See also

External links

Footnotes


Senators
Representatives
Democratic Party (2)
Independent (1)