Republican Vermont Governor Phil Scott won his fifth term in office by defeating his Democratic rival Esther Charlestin. With the Associated Press calling the race shortly after polls closed, it was widely expected that Scott would win. Charlestin, the first Black woman to be nominated as a candidate for governor by a major party in Vermont, struggled to raise money and articulate why she would be a better chief executive than Scott.
During the campaign, Scott focused on supporting other Republican candidates and criticized Democratic policies on taxes, energy, education, and childcare. Despite this, he revealed that he voted for Kamala Harris in the presidential election, after voting for Joe Biden four years earlier.
Charlestin, a former Middlebury selectboard member and mother of two, moved to Vermont from Connecticut in 2019 and made her first run for statewide office. She expressed gratitude for the opportunity to hear the concerns of Vermonters during her campaign and emphasized her belief in democracy.
In other statewide races, Democrats including Treasurer Mike Pieciak, Secretary of State Sarah Copeland Hanzas, and Attorney General Charity Clark easily won reelection. Scott’s dominant victory continued his trend of winning by wide margins in past reelection races. The article also mentions the other candidates who ran for governor, including independents Kevin Hoyt and Eli “Poa” Mutino, as well as Green Mountain Peace and Justice party candidate June Goodband. The story will be updated with new results from the Vermont Secretary of State’s Office.
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