Rarely do longstanding incumbents face primary challenges from well-known candidates within their own party. But Chittenden County State’s Attorney T.J. Donovan is now taking on nine-term incumbent Bill Sorrell for the second time in four years.
Donovan announced Sunday that he’ll seek the Democratic nomination for attorney general. It’s not yet clear, however, whether voters will see a rematch of the fierce primary battle in 2012 between Donovan and incumbent Bill Sorrell, who says he hasn’t yet decided whether he’ll seek reelection.
“I tried this two years ago, came up a little bit short, (but I’m) still interested, still think I can provide a service to the state of Vermont, and I decided there’s never a good time, so I may as well put it out there, that I am running for attorney general,” Donovan said Monday.
Next August’s primary election is still more than a year away, but the third-term Chittenden County prosecutor says Gov. Peter Shumlin's decision not to seek reelection in 2016 has accelerated the 2016 timetable. The weekly newspaper Seven Days first reported Donovan’s candidacy on Sunday.
In a mid-summer primary election that drew about 40,000 voters to the polls, Donovan lost to Sorrell by only about 700 votes in 2012. Since then, he’s bolstered his reputation as a criminal-justice reformer, and continued his work with policy makers and legislators to change the way police and courts deal with heroin addicts and other low-level drug offenders.
Donovan helped lead the push for laws that seek medical treatment, rather than jail time, for opiate addicts. And he also called for the 2013 law that authorized the distribution of overdose-reversal drug to first-responders across the state.
"We have to understand that criminal justice reform is the civil rights issue of our time. We're for too long treated too many people as second-class citizens who've been in the criminal justice system." - Chittenden County State’s Attorney T.J. Donovan
“We have to understand that criminal justice reform is the civil rights issue of our time. We’ve for too long treated too many people as second-class citizens who’ve been in the criminal justice system,” Donovan said. “This is about leveling the playing field, giving people opportunity, because at the end of the day, that will enhance our public safety as a state.”
Donovan in 2012 criticized Sorrell for failing to put the office’s profile to better use on criminal justice issues. He said Monday that he’d use the attorney general’s post as a platform for issues such as social inequality, environmental protection and campaign-finance reform.
Sorrell says Donovan informed him in advance of the announcement, and that the two have been communicating amicably in recent weeks.
Sorrell is the subject of an ongoing ethics investigation into alleged campaign finance violations in 2012 and 2014. The investigation follows a formal complaint filed by the vice-chairman of the Vermont Republican Party, Brady Toensing.
"My priority right now is letting the truth come out in response to Toensing's allegations." - Attorney General Bill Sorrell
Sorrell is in his ninth term as attorney general, and says he hasn’t decided whether he’ll defend his seat. “My priority right now is letting the truth come out in response to Toensing’s allegations,” Sorrell said Monday.
Eric Davis, professor emeritus of political science at Middlebury College, says Donovan retains some of the momentum he built in 2012.
“For a first-time statewide candidate, I think T.J. Donovan did a good job of introducing himself to the voters,” said Davis. “He was well organized, he traveled around the state. He had grassroots supporters all around the state, not just in his native territory of Chittenden County.”
"For a first-time statewide candidate, I think T.J. Donovan did a good job of introducing himself to the voters [in 2012]." - Eric Davis, professor emeritus of political science at Middlebury College
But he says the stakes are high for the 41-year-old prosecutor, if he hopes to have a career in statewide politics. “Normally a second defeat in the statewide office is something that’s difficult to recover from,” Davis said.
Davis said there are exceptions to that rule, including Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Peter Welch, both of whom lost statewide races twice before meeting with success.
Sorrell says he expects the investigation against him to wrap in August.
