To Paul Dame, the chair of the Vermont Republican Party, it was appropriate that state Sen. Sam Douglass apologized for participating in a racist, misogynist and antisemitic group chat. But in an interview on Vermont Edition, Dame stopped short of agreeing with Douglass' decision to resign.
"He is committed, as the rest of our Vermont Republicans are, to the issues that he was working for, and that we've been working for, in the state senate," Dame said. "He felt like it was going to be hard for him to be effective moving forward, and that's part of the reason that he resigned."
Douglass' resignation follows a Politico story published on Tuesday about a young Republicans' leaked racist group chat. Douglass was one of about a dozen members in the chat, which drew condemnation from lawmakers on the both sides of the aisle. Vermont leaders including Gov. Phil Scott demanded Douglass resign.
But Dame was an outlier. In a statement last week, he criticized the chat itself but said Douglass' comments were neither bigoted nor racist.
Later that day, the party's executive committee issued a "full, complete retraction" of Dame's statement and called for Douglass' resignation.
"Well, I think as the whole thing was was unfolding, everyone made the comment that they felt they could support with the information they had at the time," Dame said of the differences between his and his party's stances.
When asked whether his views and values align with those of other Republican leaders in the state, like his executive committee or Gov. Scott, Dame said they all agree that the chat was "inappropriate." He said the group chat "does not reflect anything I've ever heard from any Vermont Republican in the state, and I've had very frank conversations with people, and it was something that was very foreign to me." He also said it was "hard to imagine that Sam was even linked on those things."
Douglass issued a lengthy statement along with his resignation. In it, he described how he and his wife have been receiving hateful messages, including ones that threaten the life of their newborn baby. "I know that this decision [to resign] will upset many, and delight others, but in this political climate I must keep my family safe," Douglass wrote.
The group chat included one message in which Douglass mocked the bathing habits of a woman from India. In another exchange, his wife Brianna Douglass wrote of “expecting the Jew to be honest.”
When asked what types of rhetoric should be tolerated from politicians, Dame brought up a controversial comment made by Democratic Congresswoman Becca Balint in late May. At a town hall in Newport, Balint responded to a question about President Trump's immigration policy by saying that without immigrants Americans were "not going to have anyone around to wipe our asses."
Balint apologized the following week in an interview with VTDigger.
Dame said her comment could be perceived as xenophobic, but also said he wasn't comparing it to the racism or misogyny of the young Republicans group chat.
"There needs to be a commitment from everybody involved to say, how do we talk to each other in a way where we can turn the temperature down and we can set a better example?" Dame said. "I think part of it, too, is making sure that we continue to demonstrate a culture of understanding, like really trying to understand what the other person is saying and meaning, rather than, 'ha, you you fell into the trap, and let me reel it in and make you pay for it.'"
Douglass' resignation went into effect Monday at noon. A GOP county organization typically recommends three potential replacement candidates to the governor, who will then appoint a new legislator to the vacant seat.
Broadcast live on Monday, October 20, 2025, at noon; rebroadcast at 7 p.m.
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