This year’s primary races offered little in the way of surprises. Governor Phil Scott easily won a chance to seek a third term in the Republican primary. Democratic U.S. Representative Peter Welch was given the opportunity to vie for retiring U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy’s seat in the fall.
State Senate President Pro Tem Becca Balint prevailed over Lieutenant Governor Molly Gray and will be the Democratic candidate to replace Representative Welch this November. While that race was hotly contested, polls correctly predicted its outcome some time ago.
Republicans chose Gerald Malloy as their standard bearer in the Senate contest and Liam Madden as their candidate in the House race. In Orleans County, her neighbors bucked the statewide tide and threw their support to Charleston resident Anya Tynio by a wide margin.
State Senator Joe Benning of Lyndon also got a great deal of support from Northeast Kingdom residents in his successful bid for the Republican nomination for Lieutenant Governor. He will face former Lieutenant Governor David Zuckerman, who edged out Danville’s Kitty Toll.
Governor Scott’s opponents will be Brenda Siegel, who ran unopposed in the Democratic Primary, and Susan Hatch Davis, who did the same in the Progressive primary.
There was only one contested race in Orleans County. John Courchaine of Craftsbury ran for the Republican nomination in the Orleans-4 House district against incumbent Vicki Strong of Albany. Representative Strong prevailed 202 to 29.
In the newly drawn Orleans-3 House district, on the other hand, there were no declared candidates on any ballot. It appears, though, that David Templeman may have gained enough write-in votes to garner the Democratic nomination in the district which comprises Brownington and Barton. The Republicans and Progressives still have an opportunity to nominate their own candidate in caucus.
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