Tuesday’s primary election featured high voter turnout with plenty of high drama in highly contested races for all manner of high-level vacancies — in addition to two open seats in Congress, nearly every statewide officeholder not named Phil Scott stepped aside this year.
At the Lamoille County legislative level, though, there is no such thing as a losing candidate in the primary. That won’t be the case come Nov. 8 as voters will have a full slate of Democrat and Republican candidates to choose from. For local legislative hopefuls, the 2022 election essentially started Wednesday.
Top of the ticket
Here are the results from Tuesday’s primary, from the halls of Congress down to the halls of the Lamoille County courthouse.
• US Senate: Soon-to-be-former Rep. Peter Welch won nearly 85 percent of the statewide Democratic primary votes, 86,481, to succeed outgoing U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy, besting Isaac Evans-Frantz (7,218) and Niki Thran (5,111).
Things were closer on the Republican side — Gerald Malloy won with 12,145, beating Christina Nolan (10,808) and Myers Mermel (5,212).
Martha Abbott will represent the Progressive party in November.
• US House of Representatives: In the race to replace Welch, for the Democrats, Vermont House Speaker Becca Balint won with 60,948 votes, beating lieutenant governor Molly Gray (37,205), Louis Meyers (1,592) and Sianay Chase Clifford (880).
On the Republican side, Liam Madden won with 10,687 votes, beating Ericka Redic (8,229) and Anya Tynio (6,902).
For the Progressives, it will be Barbara Nolfi on the general election ballot.
• Governor: Incumbent Phil Scott handily beat his two Republican challengers with 20,153 votes. Stephen Bellows had 5,395 and Peter Duval had 3,619.
On the Democratic side, Brenda Siegel was the only one on the ballot, and she garnered 56,204 to move on. However, fully one third of Vermonters filling out a Democratic primary ballot left blank ovals in the governor’s race.
Susan Hatch Davis was the sole Progressive in the race but garnered far fewer blank votes.
• Lieutenant governor: David Zuckerman, the last person not named Molly Gray to hold the spot, won the Democratic primary for his old seat with 42,501 votes, beating Kitty Toll (37,825), Patricia Preston (9,306) and Charlie Kimbell (7,234).
For the Republicans, Joe Benning had 14,636 votes and Gregory Thayer had 12,155.
The Progressives did not field a candidate.
• State treasurer: All three parties sent a single candidate to replace Democrat Beth Pearce. The Democratic candidate is Mike Pieciak, the Progressive candidate is Don Schramm, and the Republican candidate is H. Brooke Paige, once again running for a handful of statewide offices.
• Secretary of state: The only primary contest to replace Democrat Jim Condos came from his own party. Sarah Copeland Hanzas narrowly won with 36,031 votes, beating Chris Winters (34,097) and John Odum (13,675).
For the Progressives in November, it will be Robert Millar, while Paige will represent the Republicans.
• Auditor of accounts: Another trio of uncontested candidates will be on the November ballot, including incumbent Democrat Doug Hoffer. He’ll be joined by Progressive Marielle Blais and the ubiquitous Paige.
• Attorney general: Again, the only contest to replace an incumbent — TJ Donovan — comes from the same political party, with Charity Clark beating Rory Thibault 58,505-28,348. Elijah Bergman is the Progressive candidate and, you guessed it, Paige is there for the GOP.
Local elections
At the Lamoille County level, there were no contested races, but here who will be on the ballot come November.
• Lamoille County Senate: Incumbent Rich Westman, R-Cambridge.
• Lamoille-1 House (Stowe): Jed Lipsky, I-Stowe, and Scott Weathers, D-Stowe.
• Lamoille-2 House (Belvidere, Hyde Park, Johnson, Wolcott): Richard Bailey, R-Hyde Park; incumbent Kate Donnally, D-Hyde Park; incumbent Dan Noyes, D-Wolcott; and Malcolm “Mac” Teale, R-Hyde Park.
• Lamoille-3 House (Cambridge, Waterville): Lucy Boyden, D-Cambridge, and Rebecca Pitre, R-Waterville.
• Lamoille-Washington House (Elmore, Morristown, Woodbury, Worcester): Saudia LaMont, D-Morristown; Nichole Loati, R-Morristown; Ben Olsen, R-Morristown; and incumbent Avram Patt, D-Worcester.
• State’s attorney: incumbent Todd Shove, D-Elmore.
• Sheriff: incumbent Roger Marcoux, R-Morristown.
• Assistant judge: incumbent Madeline Motta, D-Stowe, and David Yacovone, D-Morristown.
• High bailiff: incumbent Scott Kirkpatrick, R-Johnson.
Town by town
Here's how Lamoille County towns voted in Tuesday’s elections. Only contested races are listed.
Belvidere
- Total voter turnout: 53
- U.S. Senate: Welch 23, Evans-Frantz 3, Thran 2; Nolan 9, Malloy 6, Mermel 6
- U.S. House: Balint 16, Gray 10, Meyers 1; Redic 11, Tynio 5, Madden 4
- Governor: Scott 19, Duval 3, Bellows 2,
- Lt. governor: Zuckerman 19, Toll 8, Preston 2, Kimbell 0
- Secretary of state: Hanzas 11, Winters 9, Odum 4
- Attorney General: Clark 17, Thibault 9
Cambridge
- Total voter turnout: 743
- U.S. Senate: Welch 482, Evans-Frantz 37, Thran 31; Nolan 74, Malloy 69, Mermel 22
- U.S. House: Balint 333, Gray 211, Meyers 13; Redic 57, Madden 54, Tynio 41
- Governor: Scott 116, Bellows 31, Duval 17
- Lt. governor: Toll 240, Zuckerman 231, Preston 44, Kimbell 34
- Secretary of state: Hanzas 204, Winters 160, Odum 81
- Attorney General: Clark 321, Thibault 157
Eden
- Total voter turnout: 134
- U.S. Senate: Welch 63, Thran 8, Evans-Frantz 3; Nolan 22, Malloy 18, Mermel 11
- U.S. House: Gray 37, Balint 35, Meyers 1; Madden 22, Madden 14, Tynio 14
- Governor: Scott 41, Bellows 11, Duval 6
- Lieutenant governor: Zuckerman 39, Toll 27, Preston 3, Kimbell 3
- Sec. of State: Winters 28 , Hanzas 27, Odum 9
- Attorney General: Clark 36, Thibault 30
Elmore
- Total voter turnout: 216
- U.S. Senate: Welch 159, Thran 9, Evans-Frantz 3; Nolan 20, Malloy 12, Mermel 10
- U.S. House: Balint 96, Gray 68, Thran 7; Redic 19, Madden 10, Tynio 5
- Governor: Scott 25, Bellows 13, Duval 4
- Lieutenant governor: Toll 77, Zuckerman 64, Preston 14
- Secretary of state: Hanzas 56, Winters 56, Odum 37
- Attorney General: Clark 101, Thibault 48
Hyde Park
- Total voter turnout: 548
- U.S. Senate: Welch 349, Thran -15, Evans-Frantz 12; Nolan 70, Malloy 52, Mermel 20
- U.S. House: Balint 207, Gray 169, Meyers 3; Madden 49, Redic 47, Tynio 35
- Governor: Scott 108, Duval 24, Bellows 24
- Lieutenant governor: Toll 168, Zuckerman 155, Preston 26, Kimbell 11
- Secretary of state: Hanzas 134, Winters 131, Odum 47
- Attorney General: Clark 198, Thibault 131
Johnson
- Total voter turnout: 409
- U.S. Senate: Welch 261, Evans-Frantz 18, Thran 17; Malloy 38, Nolan 32, Mermel 23
- U.S. House: Balint 182, Gray 113, Meyers 4; Madden 34, Tynio 25, Redic 24
- Governor: Scott 73, Duval 13, Bellows 11
- Lieutenant governor: Zuckerman 147, Toll 120, Preston 22, Kimbell 8
- Secretary of state: Hanzas 119, Winters 86, Odum 44
- Attorney General: Clark 169, Thibault 93
Morristown
- Total voter turnout: 1,025
- U.S. Senate: Welch 683, Evans-Frantz 45; Thran 37; Nolan 106, Malloy 74, Mermel 45.
- U.S. House: Balint 410, Gray 340, Meyers 10; Redic 83, Madden 66, Tynio 49
- Governor: Scott 158, Bellows 47, Duval 21
- Lieutenant governor: Toll 371, Zuckerman 288, Preston 69, Kimbell 20
- Secretary of state: Hanzas 286, Winter 238, Odum 110
- Attorney General: Clark 408, Thibault 259
Stowe
- Total voter turnout: 933
- U.S. Senate: Welch 710, Thran, 32 Evans-Frantz 26; Nolan 79, Malloy 46, Mermel 11
- U.S. House: Balint 403, Gray 352, Meyers 11, Clifford 6; Redic 50, Madden 42, Tynio 19
- Governor: Scott 122, Bellows 14, Duval 9
- Lieutenant governor: Toll 353, Zuckerman 250, Preston 74, Kimbell 57; Benning 77, Thayer 43
- Secretary of state: Winters 293, Hanzas 209, Odum 91
- Attorney General: Clark 432, Thibault 233
Wolcott
- Total voter turnout: 257
- U.S. Senate: Welch 170, Evans-Frantz 10, Thran 3; Malloy 22, Nolan 18, Mermel 12
- U.S. House: Balint 107, Gray 77, Meyers 4; Madden 18, Redic 16, Tynio 15
- Governor: Scott 40, Duval 15, Bellows 8
- Lieutenant governor: Zuckerman 83, Toll 81, Kimbell 10, Preston 10; Benning 43, Thayer 10
- Secretary of state: Winters 59, Hanzas 51, Odum 38
- Attorney General: Clark 97, Thibault 71
Waterville
- Total voter turnout: 139
- U.S. Senate: Welch 78, Thran 3, Evans-Frantz 0; Mermel 17, Malloy 16, Nolan 14
- U.S. House: Balint 51, Gray 31, Meyers 2; Redic 17, Tynio 17, Madden 11
- Governor: Scott 27, Duval 14, Bellows 9
- Lieutenant governor: Toll 39, Zuckerman 30, Preston 8, Kimbell 4
- Secretary of state: Winters 30, Hanzas 23, Odum 15
- Attorney General: Clark 41, Thibault 29
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