Bristol Republican Steven Heffernan unseated longtime incumbent Democrat Sen. Chris Bray in their race in Addison County — a rebuke against longtime influential legislator who was the architect of some of Vermont’s most significant environmental policies, including the Affordable Heat Act.
The victory for Heffernan — a business owner and relative political newcomer — is part of a wider wave of Republican victories against Democratic incumbents this election, which will dislodge the veto-proof Democratic supermajority in the Legislature.
“I feel very good about that,” Heffernan said on the phone Wednesday morning, while picking up campaign signs. “I think supermajorities, whether it's Democratic or Republican, have shown that — it doesn't fare well. We need to always need balance. So I think we have some balance back.”
Bray’s seat was one of two up for grabs in the Addison County Senate district, which also includes Buels Gore, Huntington and Rochester. Heffernan scored a second place finish in the four-way race, beating Bray by over 600 votes, according to unofficial results from the Associated Press Wednesday morning.
Incumbent Sen. Ruth Hardy, a Middlebury Democrat, will keep her seat after eking out the top spot for her district and fending off Huntington Republican Landel James Cochran. Cochran and Heffernan were both endorsed by Republican Gov. Phil Scott.
Heffernan is a former member of the Vermont National Guard and co-owns three family businesses in Bristol and New Haven. Like other Republican challengers this election, he centered his campaign on affordability, criticizing Vermont’s rising property tax rates and the clean heat standard his opponent championed.
That policy — designed to reduce Vermont’s emissions from heating — has brought in thousands this election from out-of-state donors on both sides.
On Wednesday, Heffernan said he thinks that issue and higher property taxes brought voters out for him this election. Bray — who chairs the Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Energy — could not immediately be reached for comment Wednesday morning.
David Glidden is chair of the Vermont Democratic Party. He said he thinks voters were trying to send a message about their “economic anxieties.”
“We heard it on the doors at times that Vermonters are really concerned about property taxes and affordability, and Republicans had really strong, easy answers on those, even when they weren't necessarily things they could actually build into policy,” Glidden said Wednesday. “But it's still an incredible talking point, and very powerful.”
That message resonated with voters in Addison County, like Sue Brown, 62, of New Haven. At the polls Tuesday, Brown said she’s voted for the incumbent candidates in the Legislature before. But with the recent tax hikes statewide she says it’s time for a change.
“There’s a big shakeup, and I’m hoping it happens tonight, that none of those guys go back,” she said.
Glidden, with Vermont Democrats, also pointed to Heffernan’s well-financed campaign, which brought in more than $50,000 in contributions this election, according to campaign disclosures filed with the state in November. Among his donors were Gov. Scott, heating suppliers and contractors, the Vermont Fuel Dealers Association, and a handful of Chittenden County property developers and managers.
Bray’s latest disclosure report declares over $42,000 in total contributions. His donors included the union representing educators in Vermont, the Vermont Renewable Energy Political Action Committee and Neale Lunderville, president and CEO of Vermont Gas.
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