Incumbents survive Vermont’s most closely watched state Senate primaries

Updated at 9:25 a.m. on Aug. 14.

With six vacancies announced in the 30-member Vermont Senate since the start of 2024, there’s an unusual number of open seats this year, prompting competitive primaries throughout the state.

In April, the late Democratic Sen. Dick Mazza stepped down from his Grand Isle seat. And in June, Sen. Dick Sears, a longtime Bennington County Democrat, died . The retirements of Sens. Jane Kitchel, D-Caledonia; Brian Campion, D-Bennington; Dick McCormack, D-Windsor; and Bobby Starr, D-Orleans, presented additional opportunities for newcomers to join the upper chamber.

Even in some districts where all the incumbents were seeking reelection, challengers made primary bids to unseat sitting senators.

Chittenden Central

The race for three seats in deep blue Chittenden County was perhaps the night’s most closely watched Senate competition .

Stewart Ledbetter, a veteran broadcast journalist, was challenging three incumbents in the Democratic primary. But unofficial results from the Secretary of State’s Office showed Ledbetter finishing in fourth.

Sen. Martine Gulick, a Democrat, and Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Baruth, a Democrat/Progressive, in first and second place, respectively, with 24% and 22% of the vote. Sen. Tanya Vyhovsky, a Progressive/Democrat, came in third with 20%, with Ledbetter finishing roughly 300 votes behind her.

The mood was joyous inside Simple Roots Brewing in Burlington, where the incumbents toasted their apparent victory. Vyhovsky had broken an earring in a celebratory hug.

“The process has been really intense. I mean, Martine and I worked really hard. We were out knocking doors every weekend, evenings when we could,” Vyhovsky said in an interview Tuesday night. “Just this weekend alone, volunteers knocked almost 1,000 doors in the Old North End.”

Gulick similarly praised the team’s determination.

“We worked really hard, and we helped each other out, and Tanya was very instrumental in me having the result that I had today,” Gulick said Tuesday night.

From their headquarters in Burlington's South End Tuesday night, Vermont Progressives gathered to celebrate their wins. As incumbent Vyhovsky edged ahead of Ledbetter around 9 p.m., the room erupted in cheers — heartiest of all from Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman.

Ledbetter’s campaign garnered significant donations from prominent business owners and landlords. With the four candidates running on similar platforms, observers suggested the race could come down to name recognition.

“It looks like we came up about maybe 300 votes short,” Ledbetter said in a Tuesday night speech at a Winooski wine bar, where his campaign held a gathering. “Well, it is what it is, and we don't have final numbers yet, but I don't see how they're going to change. So, I think tonight is a night to say thank you.”

Bennington

Both of Bennington County’s Democratic Senate seats were up for grabs this year after Sen. Campion decided to leave office and Sen. Sears died in June .

Democratic Rep. Seth Bongartz of Manchester ran to fill one of the seats, and handily picked up 44% of the vote, according to unofficial results from the Vermont Secretary of State’s Office, as of 10:30 p.m., with 18 out of 19 precincts reporting.

Rob Plunkett, a deputy state’s attorney from Bennington, ran a write-in campaign and secured about 20% of the vote, according to the unofficial results.

Write-ins accounted for 30% of all votes cast in Bennington’s Democratic primary, and were directed at more than 10 different candidates.

Sears had planned to run for reelection, and his name appeared on the ballot , leading some to believe he would end up the top vote-getter on Tuesday. But he appeared to come in third overall with 13% of the vote, according to the unofficial results.

Manchester Selectboard member Jonathan West declared his candidacy in July, the Manchester Journal reported , but he did not wage a write-in campaign. Rather, West urged residents of the district to vote for Sears one last time, which would result in the local Democratic committee selecting the party’s candidate after the election.

Joe Gervais of East Arlington ran uncontested in the Republican primary.

Grand Isle

Sen. Andy Julow of North Hero, who was appointed to fill Mazza’s seat in the single-member district in May, won the Democratic primary on Tuesday, edging out Julie Hulburd of Colchester.

Julow clinched the nomination with 49% of the vote, according to unofficial results from the Vermont Secretary of State’s Office.

After a long day of talking to constituents at the polls, Julow said in an interview Tuesday night that he was celebrating his win by relaxing at home with his three dogs.

“I’m really happy with the results,” he said. “And I’m excited to get back to work.”

Facing Julow in the Democratic primary was Hulburd, who has served in local government and on state committees, including the Vermont State Ethics Commission and the Cannabis Control Board. Hulburd fell shortly behind Julow with 45% of the vote, according to the Secretary of State’s unofficial results.

Rep. Pat Brennan, of Colchester, didn’t have competition in the Republican primary for the Senate district.

Candidates from both parties had sought to model themselves in Mazza’s image . The late Colchester Democrat held the Grand Isle Senate seat for nearly four decades.

Addison

Democratic Sens. Ruth Hardy of East Middlebury and Chris Bray of Bristol overcame a primary challenge from Rep. Caleb Elder in the two-member Addison Senate district. Hardy was the top vote-getter with 36% of the vote, while Bray pulled in 29%, according to unofficial results from the Vermont Secretary of State’s Office.

Neither incumbent had faced a contested primary in their three (in the case of Hardy) and six (in the case of Bray) prior Senate races, until Tuesday. Both lead important committees — Hardy, Government Operations and Bray, Natural Resources and Energy — and they both typically win their general elections by wide margins.

None of that dissuaded Elder of Starksboro, who currently represents the Addison-4 district in the House, from putting his name down against them in August’s primary . Elder won 23% of the vote, according to the unofficial results from the Secretary of State’s Office.

Wendy Pratt, a Democrat who is assistant director of Middlebury’s Hannaford Career Center, said at the polls Tuesday that “Hardy does very well for Addison County” because she listens to constituents' concerns in meetings.

Joe Nelson, a forester from Ferrisburgh, told VTDigger at the polls that he was most focused on the environment. The repeated, heavy rain and warm winters have been disastrous for the land he cares for, he said.

“We can’t get in the woods to do our work like we used to be able to,” he said. “To reduce carbon emissions is just so critical.”

Bray, he said, had earned his vote for that reason. “Some of his natural resource stuff was really good,” he said.

Hardy had appealed to him for similar reasons, Nelson said. “Everything she said was right on” when she visited Ferrisburgh recently, he said.

On the Republican side, Lesley J. Bienvenue of Leicester, Landel James Cochran of Huntington and Steven Heffernan of Bristol were vying for their party’s nomination. Heffernan and Cochran claimed the party’s nominations with 44% and 20% of the votes, respectively, according to the unofficial results from the Secretary of State’s Office.

Kelly Brown, a hygienist from New Haven, said at the polls that she and her son Tyler had both voted for Heffernan. Added to the fact that Tyler “grew up with his kids,” Kelly appreciated that Heffernan had served in the military.

Ferrisburgh’s Judith Meynke, 66, said at the polls that Heffernan had her unequivocal support. “He’s a believer in Jesus, number one,” she said.

Windsor

A crowded field of both Democratic and Republican candidates sought to win their respective parties’ nomination in the three-seat Windsor County district.

Sen. Dick McCormack, a Democrat, is retiring after more than 30 years of legislative service. Two fellow Democratic incumbents, Sen. Becca White and Sen. Alison Clarkson, easily topped the Democratic primary, according to unofficial results from the Secretary of State’s Office. White received 27% of the vote, while Clarkson took home 26%.

Also running in that party’s primary were Joe Major, of Hartford, who secured the third Democratic nomination with 21% of the vote, and Justin Tuthill, of Pomfret, who finished fourth, according to the unofficial results.

On the Republican side, Jack Williams, of Weathersfield, was the top vote-getter, earning 1,341 votes or 20% of the total. Andrea Murray, of Weathersfield, finished second with 1,336 votes, and Jonathan Gleason, of Ludlow, appeared to have narrowly edged out Robert Ruhlin, of Cavendish, receiving 1,135 votes to Ruhlin’s 1,036.

Caledonia

In the Northeast Kingdom’s single-member Caledonia district — from which Kitchel is retiring — Rep. Scott Beck, R-St. Johnsbury, a veteran House lawmaker, easily defeated JT Dodge in his bid for the Republican nomination, according to unofficial results from the Vermont Secretary of State’s Office. Beck won 79% of the vote to Dodge’s 16%.

Dodge labeled himself a political outsider, while Beck stressed his experience working on education finance as the necessary skill for the political present. The latter also raked in considerable campaign contributions.

And on the Democratic side, Amanda Cochrane, executive director of a social service nonprofit, defeated nursing home administrator Shawn Hallisey, winning 84% of the vote to Hallisey’s 9%.

Cochrane, of St. Johnsbury, was endorsed by Kitchel. Hallisey, from Waterford, said he wanted to give voters a choice, rather than allow Kitchel’s preferred choice coast to victory.

Chittenden Southeast

Three Democratic incumbents in Chittenden Southeast, Sens. Kesha Ram Hinsdale, Thomas Chittenden and Ginny Lyons, won their party’s nomination despite facing opposition from Louis Meyers, a hospitalist at Rutland Regional Medical Center.

Lyons secured the most votes with 27.4%, according to unofficial results from the Secretary of State’s Office. She was followed closely behind by Chittenden and Ram Hinsdale, with 25.5% and 24.4% of the vote, respectively.

Meyers finished in fourth with 12.3%.

As a physician, Meyers sought to make health care the race’s key issue . Lyons, as chair of the Senate Committee on Health and Welfare since 2019, has played a key role in shaping Vermont’s health care policy.

Bruce Roy ran uncontested in the Republican primary.

Orleans

In Orleans County’s single-member district , a contested Republican primary pit local GOP leader Samuel Douglass against a first-time legislative candidate, Aime Conrad Bellavance.

Douglass won 50% of the vote over Bellavance’s 41%, according to unofficial results from the Secretary of State’s Office Tuesday night.

In campaign interviews, Bellavance billed himself as a political moderate aligned with retiring Democratic Sen. Bobby Starr. Douglass, meanwhile, highlighted his work ethic both as a community member and campaigner.

In November, the winner will face Rep. Katherine Sims, D-Craftsbury, who didn’t have competition in the Democratic Senate primary.

Theo Wells-Spackman, Sarah Mearhoff and Shaun Robinson contributed reporting.

Read the story on VTDigger here: Incumbents survive Vermont’s most closely watched state Senate primaries .