MONTPELIER, Vt. (WCAX) – Republican gains extended to the Legislature Tuesday night, breaking up the Democratic supermajority at the Statehouse.
Republicans believe the message from Vermont voters is clear.
“Things are going to change. I think the people have spoken loud and clear,” said Sen.-elect Scott Beck, R-Caledonia County.
“Every door I knocked on, it was the number one issue — Vermonters can not take it anymore,” said Sen.-elect Samuel Douglass, R-Orleans County.
For months, Governor Phil Scott flooded the airwaves with his affordability message, sounding the alarm on spiking property taxes and other fees passed by lawmakers. And voters Tuesday appeared to answer the call.
“There’s going to be greater representation on the committees and a greater necessity for the Legislature to work with the governor,” said Jason Maulucci, Gov. Phil Scott’s campaign manager.
Vermont Democrats have held veto-proof margins in both the House and Senate in recent years. But in January the numbers will be much closer. In the 30-member Senate, Democrats and Progressives control 17 seats while Republicans will control 13. In the 150-member House, Democrats and Progressives will control 91 seats while the GOP will control 56 seats. And it wasn’t just gains in the Legislature. The governor received the most votes in state history, while other statewide Democrats’ margins of victory shrunk from 2022 by about 10 percentage points.
Democrats still have majorities and will still set the agenda but there could be new leadership and new committee chairs determining what bills are taken up. “We hear the message from voters and we will sit down with it get comfortable with it and go back at it in January,” said Sen.President Phil Baruth, D/P-Chittenden County.
“This was not a change election. It wasn’t like 2000, like when Republicans took the House after civil unions. This was a message election,” said Chris Graff, the former longtime Vt. Associated Press bureau chief. He says the partisan split will force Democrats and Republicans to work together on issues, including how to fund education without spiking property taxes. “The democrats and the governor have been like oil and water in recent years. Both sides have said it’s my way or the highway. That has to change.”
Democrats acknowledge the losses will hamper some of their agenda but they say there are shared interests, including a continued focus on flood recovery. “I’m going to work very hard with everyone that comes in and we will see what we can agree on,” Baruth said.
The deep-blue state of Vermont taking on a more purple hue.
