Vermont state executive official elections, 2016

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Vermont 2016 elections

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Six state executive offices in Vermont were up for election in 2016:

HIGHLIGHTS

Five of the six offices up for election were controlled by Democrats; three of the races were open.

Incumbent Governor Peter Shumlin (D) retired, leaving the seat an open and competitive race.

Vermont is under Democratic trifecta control; Republican Lt. Gov. Phil Scott won the gubernatorial election, ending the five-year trifecta.

Context of the 2016 elections

Primary elections

A primary election is an election in which voters select the candidate they believe should represent a political party in a general election. Primaries usually take place several months before 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. Vermont state law is unique in that it allows candidates to run in multiple primary elections at the same time, whether for multiple offices or for the same office under multiple parties. However, a candidate may only appear once on the general election ballot.^[1]^[2]^[3]

Vermont's primary elections took place on August 9, 2016.

Incumbents

Incumbents ran for re-election in three of the six offices up for election in 2016. Incumbents Treasurer Elizabeth Pearce (D), Auditor Doug Hoffer (D), and Secretary of State Jim Condos (D) all filed to run for another term in 2016. All three incumbents won their respective primaries. No other major party candidates filed to run for treasurer or secretary of state, meaning that Pearce and Condos were the likely winners of the November general election. Auditor Hoffer was unopposed in the Democratic primary, but he faced Dan Feliciano (R) in November.

Three offices were open in the 2016 elections due to retirements. Incumbent Governor Peter Shumlin (D) {{{after}}}, and Lieutenant Governor Phil Scott (R) ran for the seat, leaving the lieutenant governor's race open as well. Incumbent Attorney General Bill Sorrell (D) also {{{after}}}.

Party control in Vermont

At the time of the elections, Vermont was under Democratic trifecta control: Democrats had held the governorship and majorities in both chambers of the state legislature since Republican Governor Jim Douglas left office in 2011. The state's electoral votes had gone to the Democratic presidential candidate since 1992, though Vermont went to Republicans for the six presidential elections prior.^[4] The state had been represented in the U.S. Senate by Democrat Patrick Leahy since 1975, and by Bernie Sanders since 2007, who won election as an independent candidate, but changed party affiliation in 2015 to seek the Democratic nomination for president.

The office of governor in Vermont had changed party hands every other officeholder since 1963, with no governor serving more than four two-year terms. Before Philip Henderson Hoff's election in 1962, Republicans had held the seat since 1856. While incumbent governors have tended to win re-election by comfortable margins, the last two open elections, in 2002 and 2010, were both decided by less than three percentage points. The 2016 open election for governor was also expected to be competitive; if Republicans won the office, it would end the Democratic trifecta.

2016 elections

Races we watched

Governor

HIGHLIGHTS

Democrat Governor Peter Shumlin retired from office in 2017.

Five Democrats and two Republicans competed for their parties' nominations in the August 9 primary elections, which were both competitive. Sue Minter won the Democratic primary, and Phil Scott won the Republican primary.

Scott won the general election on November 8, 2016, breaking a five-year Democratic trifecta.

Lieutenant governor

HIGHLIGHTS

Incumbent Lt. Gov. Phil Scott (R) was eligible to run for re-election to a third term in office, but is instead seeking election to the office of governor.^[5]

The office of lieutenant governor has frequently changed party hands since the 1960s.

Three Democratic state legislators competed for their party's nomination on August 9. David Zuckerman won the nomination and also won the Progressive Party nomination with write-in votes. One Republican also filed for the seat.

Zuckerman won the general election on November 8, 2016.

Elections by office

Governor

To view race information, click [show] to expand the full section.

Sue Minter (D)
Former transportation secretary, former state rep.

Phil Scott (R)
Lieutenant governor of Vermont since 2011

Bill Lee (Liberty Union)
Former Boston Red Sox pitcher

Click [show] to view candidates who were defeated in the primary elections.

Prominent candidates

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Bruce Lisman (R)
Most recent position: Founder, Campaign for Vermont
Past experience: CEO of institutional equities at Bear Sterns & Company

Matt Dunne (D)
Most recent position: Head of community affairs at Google since 2008
Past experience: State Sen., 2003-2008; state Rep., 1993-2000

Peter Galbraith (D)
Most recent position: State Sen., 2011-2015
Past experience: U.S. ambassador, senior advisor to U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee

Other candidates

Cris Ericson (D) - paralegal
H. Brooke Paige (D) - owner, Remmington News Service

Click [show] to view candidates who declined to run in this election.

Declined

John Moran - former state representative^[6]
Shap Smith - speaker of the Vermont House of Representatives^[7]