Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman, a Progressive/Democrat, has conceded his race — but stopped short of saying the Legislature, which will get the final say, should actually install the top vote-getter, Republican John Rodgers, into office.
According to both candidates, Zuckerman called Rodgers on Thursday morning to concede and to say that Zuckerman would not be seeking a recount.
Rodgers received 171,853 votes, compared to Zuckerman’s 165,868, according to unofficial results from the Secretary of State. With roughly 6,000 ballots separating him from his opponent, it was not realistic to think a recount would change the outcome, Zuckerman told Vermont Public.
But because neither Zuckerman nor Rodgers won more than 50% of the vote, Tuesday’s results are not yet final. The Vermont Constitution dictates that state lawmakers get to choose the winner — and Zuckerman suggested Thursday that it may not be inappropriate for lawmakers to send Zuckerman, and not Rodgers, back to Montpelier.
I'm going to back off and see what happens.Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman
A third candidate, Ian Diamondstone of the socialist Green Mountain Peace & Justice Party, received 13,671 votes on Tuesday. That third party has since released a statement calling on lawmakers to put Zuckerman in office, arguing that the voters who picked Diamondstone were more aligned with Zuckerman than Rodgers.
Zuckerman pointed to this statement, and said that he believed there was indeed “a very good chance” those who voted for Diamondstone would have voted for him had the third party candidate not been on the ballot.
The incumbent repeatedly declined to say whether he believed lawmakers should pick him or Rodgers to be Vermont’s next lieutenant governor. But he noted that lawmakers going against the popular vote would not be without precedent, and said there was “a reason” the framers of Vermont’s constitution had given lawmakers this discretion.
“If they thought it should be rubber stamped every time, they would not have set it up that way,” he said.
He added that he would not lobby lawmakers in either direction, and that doing so would be “inappropriate.”
“I'm going to back off and see what happens,” he said.
No incumbent lieutenant governor has lost a reelection bid since T. Garry Buckley in 1978. Incidentally, Buckley is also the last person who was not the top vote-getter who was put into office by the state Legislature. Lawmakers installed Buckley, a Republican, into the lieutenant governor’s post in 1976 after he came in second, behind Democrat John T. Alden.
The news of Zuckerman’s concession first broke on WVMT’s The Morning Drive, where Zuckerman appeared Thursday morning.
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 could speak for Vermont’s working class. Rodgers’ victory came on a night in which GOP candidates up and down the ballot made gains not seen in 10 years across Vermont, and Democrats lost their supermajorities in both the Vermont House and Senate.
In an interview Thursday, Rodgers said it would be “disturbing if the Legislature picked the person who didn't get the most votes.” But he also said he had “full faith” that wouldn’t happen.
Rodgers, a former Democrat, also said it wasn’t lost on him that he’d won with an "R" next to his name in a deep blue state, and he intended to be “a bridge between the two parties.”
“That's the whole reason I ran. That and the fact that I want my kids and grandkids and everybody else's kids who want to live in Vermont to be able to afford to live here, and I think if the current path continues, they won't be able to,” he said.
Have questions, comments or tips? Send us a message.
