A newcomer takes on a Statehouse veteran in the Democratic primary for lieutenant governor

Editor’s note: This story focuses on Vermont’s Democratic candidates for lieutenant governor. VTDigger will publish a story Friday focused on the Republican candidates for the post.

Vermont’s lieutenant governor is facing a challenger in the Democratic primary who is new on the statewide political scene — and who is focusing on identity more than any major differences the two contenders have over policy issues.

David Zuckerman, the lieutenant governor for the past two years and for a separate four-year stint before that, is at the same time playing up the experience that he has over his opponent, Winooski City Councilor and Deputy Mayor Thomas Renner.

Renner has never sought state-level office until this year. But he argued that he does, in fact, have statewide experience from working in the offices of former U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy and, most recently, U.S. Rep. Becca Balint, D-Vt. — a job he’s on leave from while he campaigns.

Asked what distinguishes him from Zuckerman, Renner said he sees little daylight when it comes to policies. The main choice for voters, Renner said, is centered on demographics, emphasizing that he is a gay, Black man.

“Representation is wildly important,” Renner said, sitting in Rotary Park in downtown Winooski on a recent afternoon. “I represent — and can be a beacon for — folks.”

Vermont’s lieutenant governor position is largely ceremonial. The bulk of the job is to preside over the state Senate during the legislative session. Lieutenant governors can and often do speak up on major policy issues, but they can only vote on legislation in the event of a tie. The lieutenant governor does have to be prepared to take the reins of state government, though, if the governor is unable to serve.

Zuckerman and Renner both said they would use the office’s bully pulpit to advocate for policies that address climate change and make living in Vermont more affordable. They both pointed also to widespread discontent over the large property tax increases that many communities are bracing for this year to pay for public education.

Zuckerman said he’s also focused on the issue of “democracy,” pointing to his office’s recent Banned Book Tour, during which he’s traveled the state reading aloud books that have been banned from schools and libraries in other states for political reasons.

He also said repeatedly that, with a crop of at least six new senators set to be elected this fall out of 30 total seats, he thinks that voters should keep the chamber’s moderator the same. Zuckerman previously served two terms in the Senate himself, he noted, as well as seven terms in the House before that.

“Having experience at the front of the room with making sure the process flows well, and helping, also, folks learn the process — some of the rules can be twisted and tricky to know — is, I think, a valuable asset,” Zuckerman said in an interview earlier this month, sitting at a picnic table on his farm in Hinesburg.

Renner said he also wants to advocate for equity and center the voices of people from diverse communities around the state. He said he thinks, too, that the city where he’s held public office since 2022 — which is among the most racially diverse municipalities in the state, and where local leaders have encouraged dense downtown housing development for years — should be a model for the rest of Vermont.

“Those are things that we want to replicate across the state,” Renner said.

The Progressive label

One notable difference between the candidates is in their political party affiliations.

Zuckerman has long identified himself with both the Progressive and the Democratic parties’ labels. While he is only a candidate for lieutenant governor in this year’s Democratic primary, he said that he expects the sole candidate in the Progressive Party’s lieutenant governor primary, Zoraya Hightower, to decline the nomination if she wins — after which the party would presumably grant Zuckerman the nomination.

But he also said that, as he’s pledged to do in the past, he would not run solely as a Progressive this fall if he loses the Democratic primary.

Zuckerman has so far been endorsed by Our Revolution, a progressive PAC that grew out of the 2016 presidential campaign of U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. He’s also been endorsed by Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Baruth, D/P-Chittenden Central.

The Progressive label makes it “quite clear where my views are on the issues,” Zuckerman said, adding that, “Having a label that says Progressive/Democrat says, I don’t agree with that version of economic policy that has been burdening working class people more and more and more.”

Renner, meanwhile, has made a point that he is running for office as a Democrat.

“I have been a Democrat my entire life; I have been involved in the local, county and state party. As a lifelong Democrat, I would not run in any other party’s primary, nor will I switch parties or add other party affiliations after the primary,” he wrote in Seven Days’ vote guide last month, appearing to reference Zuckerman’s political affiliations.

Renner described his politics in an interview as progressive, with a small “p,” though he reiterated that he saw his home base in the Democratic Party. He’s drawn support from the Democratic chairs of several Senate committees, including Sen. Kesha Ram Hinsdale, D-Chittenden Southeast, and Sen. Chris Bray, D-Addison.

His campaign website claims he also has the endorsement of “EVERY Democrat on the Burlington City Council” — though it makes no mention of the body’s five Progs.

Renner has also secured the support of former Danville Democratic Rep. Kitty Toll, who chaired the budget-writing House Committee on Appropriations and came in a close second to Zuckerman in the 2022 Democratic primary for lieutenant governor.

Zuckerman got about 42% of the vote in that race, which featured no incumbents, while Toll — who is listed in campaign finance filings as Renner’s treasurer — got about 37%. Two other candidates, Charlie Kimbell and Patricia Preston, trailed in the single digits.

Renner said his hopes of winning are buoyed by the fact that there are half as many primary candidates this year.

Different donors

Still — at least when it comes to fundraising — Renner hasn’t drawn the same level of support that Toll had by this stage in the race in 2022, campaign filings show.

As of early July, Renner brought in about $43,000, which is far less than the nearly $200,000 that Toll’s unsuccessful bid raked in by the same stage two years ago.

Meanwhile, Zuckerman has raised about $111,000 as of early July, which is somewhat less than the $160,000 he’d raised by that time in his race two years ago. His July 2024 haul includes about $11,000 carried over from his previous campaign, filings show.

Notably, more than a third of Renner’s fundraising total as of early July came from a handful of large donations from members of the family of Richard Tarrant, a wealthy businessman and former Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in Vermont.

Of the $43,000 Renner reported having raised as of July 1, $15,000 came from Tarrant family members — all in $3,000 increments, campaign finance records show.

Renner said in an interview that he did not solicit those large donations and said he was committed to advocating for Democratic Party priorities.

None of the Tarrant family members had donated to Zuckerman’s bid as of July 1; some did, however, also back Stewart Ledbetter, a Democrat who’s mounting a well-funded primary challenge to two progressive-aligned senators in the Chittenden Central Senate district this year.

“I haven’t met many of these Tarrant folks. So it was a surprise to me and to my campaign staff,” Renner said, adding “unfortunately, campaigns require money.”

Either Renner or Zuckerman are set to face the winner of this year’s Republican lieutenant governor primary this fall. In that race, John Rodgers, formerly a Democratic state senator, is running against former Rutland GOP chair Gregory Thayer.

Read the story on VTDigger here: A newcomer takes on a Statehouse veteran in the Democratic primary for lieutenant governor .