John Rodgers, a Democrat-turned-Republican, appears to have narrowly won an upset victory on Tuesday to unseat incumbent Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman, a Progressive/Democrat.
The Associated Press has not officially called the race, but with all towns reporting, Rodgers holds a 6,000 vote lead over incumbent David Zuckerman, a Progressive/Democrat.
Rodgers is poised to become the first Republican to hold the office since 2016. No incumbent lieutenant governor has lost a reelection bid since T. Garry Buckley in 1978.
Because neither candidate appears to have secured 50% of the vote, it's likely the Legislature will get to decide the winner.
Speaking to a reporter around 11:30 p.m., Rodgers felt confident — but not quite ready to declare victory.
“It's just a wonderful feeling to have traveled around the state and talked with so many people in such a short period of time, and gained that much confidence from Vermonters,” he said.
While the lieutenant governor’s office is largely ceremonial, the race was the most competitive statewide contest this year — and a high-profile referendum on who should speak for Vermont’s working class.
Both candidates are farmers (Zuckerman grows organic vegetables in Hinesburg; Rodgers weed and hemp in West Glover), and both served for years in the state Legislature. But the two drew sharp contrasts on the topic of affordability and taxes.
Rodgers, a stonemason and farmer from the Northeast Kingdom, leaned heavily on his multi-generational Vermont roots, and seized on anger about rising property taxes as well as fear over the potential costs of Vermont’s energy transition. A former Democrat, Rodgers argued the party had turned its back on working-class Vermonters, and aligned himself with Vermont’s deeply popular Republican governor, Phil Scott, who endorsed him and campaigned aggressively for him and other down-ballot GOP candidates.
“I’m running for governor to make Vermont more affordable, but I can’t do it alone,” Scott said in a TV spot standing alongside Rodgers.
Rodgers repeatedly brought up Zuckerman’s privileged upbringing, and sought to paint him as a gentleman farmer. Zuckerman in turn pointed to Rodgers’ heavy backing from wealthy conservative donors, and suggested that these were the interests he would serve.
“Our challenger is funded by rich Republican millionaires. In just one day he received 24 $1,000 checks! I’ve never seen that before!” Zuckerman wrote to supporters in one fundraising email.
Speaking to reporters at the Democrats’ election night party at Higher Ground in South Burlington, Zuckerman did not concede, but acknowledged there was a “decent chance” he would lose.
“I think his messaging really appealed to the sort of fear and frustration that people have,” Zuckerman said of his opponent, although he added that he did not think Rodgers offered much in the way of “significant” solutions.
While Rodgers out-spent Zuckerman, both candidates raised significant funds. Rodgers spent over $253,000, and Zuckerman over $190,000, according to campaign finance filings submitted to the Vermont Secretary of State.
Although he was — until this year — a lifelong Democrat, Rodgers never quite fit in with this caucus.
"He sometimes votes with us, he sometimes doesn't, and sometimes we don't know until we get on the floor," then-state Senate Majority Leader Becca Balint told Seven Days in 2018.
A lawmaker with a strong libertarian streak, Rodgers backed same-sex marriage, cannabis legalization and, perhaps most fervently, gun rights. When Scott signed a historic gun reform package into law in 2018, Rodgers even launched a write-in campaign for governor in protest.
Rodgers served eight years in the Vermont House and eight years in the Senate. He lost his Senate seat in 2020 after missing a filing deadline during the primaries.
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