More Vermont voters will have a choice of legislative candidates on their ballots this cycle than in almost four decades, according to a Vermont Public analysis of state elections data.
This year, 60% of legislative seats are contested, including 24 of 30 Senate seats and 84 of 150 House seats. Vermont Public’s analysis considers a race contested if there are more candidates than seats in the district.
The record is the result of a spike in races contested by Republicans. Vermont Republican Party Chair Paul Dame said the boost was in part a product of work the party undertook after the 2022 elections to recruit high-quality candidates. He attributed the successful write-in campaigns to this year’s rise in property taxes, with Vermonters receiving their first tax bill of the fiscal year after the May candidate filing deadline.
“There were people we contacted who weren’t ready to make a commitment in May, and then, as things changed over the summer, especially in those places where we didn’t have any candidates, some of the people we had talked to early on decided they were going to step up and got in through the write-in or appointment process,” Dame said, noting that most years the party picks up six or seven new candidates that way.
This year, Vermont Republicans added 18 candidates through write-in campaigns and an additional four by appointment (which parties can do if there are no primary winners for a seat).
The previous record for the proportion of contested seats was in 2000, when 97 or 53.9% of seats were contested.
Uncontested races in Vermont are historically dominated by Democrats, peaking in 2022 when over half of seats had a Democratic candidate by default. Last cycle, 85 of the 100 Democratic seats making up the party’s House supermajority were uncontested, while 11 of the 20 seats needed for a Senate supermajority were uncontested.
“Historically speaking, we’ve made a concerted effort to contest as many seats as we possibly can. Both because we’re confident in our folks’ ability to represent their constituents with decency and dignity and integrity, and because the more seats we’re contesting, the more likely we are to win a whole bunch of them,” said Jim Dandeneau, executive director of the Vermont Democratic Party. “We’ve had a lot of success.”
This year’s elections are Nov. 5, and active registered voters will receive a ballot by Oct. 1.
Have questions, comments or tips? Send us a message. Or contact the reporter directly at corey.dockser@vermontpublic.org.
