The leader of the Vermont Senate is retiring from public office when his term expires next January.
Senate President Pro Tem Phil Baruth, a Democrat, surprised colleagues Friday when he asked for a moment of personal privilege on the Senate floor to announce his decision. Baruth cited his age — he turns 65 next year — as a deciding factor.
“To my mind at least, there’s only one good thing about turning 65 … and that is you don’t need any other reason to lay down some of your work and some of your tools,” he said.
“There are talented senators and candidates coming up behind me who deserve time to make their case.”Senate President Pro Tem Phil Baruth
The pro tem’s outsize influence over the body’s agenda, and in assigning committees and chairs, makes it one of the most powerful roles in the Legislature. It is unusual for pro tems who aren’t seeking higher office to announce their retirement mid-session. Baruth, who succeeded Becca Balint as pro tem in 2023, said he wanted to give his colleagues time to choose his replacement. The Senate will select its next leader after the 2026 general election.
“I have always believed that these sorts of conversations should be longer rather than shorter,” he said. “There are talented senators and candidates coming up behind me who deserve time to make their case.”
Baruth, a novelist and English professor at the University of Vermont, began his eight-term tenure as one of the Senate’s most liberal members and is perhaps best known for his advocacy for gun control.
More recently, he’s devoted his political capital to a sweeping education reform package that remains very much in flux. Baruth said he doesn’t think his lame-duck status will undermine his efforts to get the controversial legislation across the finish line.
“If I thought this would injure anything that I care about, any legislation that we need, I wouldn’t have done it,” he said. “If anything, I think you’re on your way out the door, maybe people are slightly kinder to you than they might have been.”
Baruth said he has no plans to seek higher office and will continue writing novels and teaching after he leaves the Senate.
His three-seat district in Chittenden County is expected to be one of many hotly contested races in a 2026 election cycle that could have significant ramifications on the partisan makeup of the Legislature.
Republicans made historic gains in both the House and Senate in 2024, erasing Democratic supermajorities in both chambers. Republicans now hold 13 seats in the 30-member Senate and will be looking to gain control of the body for the first time since 1994.
