Stowe primary: Different votes for different folks

This means that, while Stowe may geographically still be part of Lamoille County, it doesn’t belong to that Senate district anymore.

It also means it is the only Lamoille County town that had a primary contest, as five Washington County Democrats faced off for three spots on the Nov. 8 general election ballot.

Prevailing Tuesday were incumbents Ann Cummings and Andrew Perchlik as well as newcomer Anne Watson. All three are from Montpelier, the capital city of which Watson is mayor.

Left behind after Tuesday’s voting are Democratic hopefuls Jared Duval of Montpelier and Jeremy Hansen of Berlin.

Sitting tight and moving on to November — and making for a five-person race for three seats — are Republican candidates Paul Bean of Northfield and Dwayne Tucker of Barre Town.

Incumbent Senator Anthony Pollina, P/D-Montpelier, earlier this year opted against seeking another term, which left a vacancy in the district.

There are some similarities to the 2018 election, when another longtime senator Bill Doyle stepped aside after 48 years serving in the Legislature. Perchlik was first elected that year.

In a Stowe-centric questionnaire sent from the Stowe Reporter last month, all the candidates said they had taken extra care to get to know the town, an affluent and politically powerful addition to the Washington County Senate district lineup.

A House divided

Also leaving a significant vacancy was eight-term Stowe Republican Rep. Heidi Scheuermann, a business-boosting voice that rarely faced opposition in her 16 years in the Vermont House of Representatives.

Running for her seat are Scott Weathers, a Stowe Democrat and Jed Lipsky, a Stowe resident running as an independent. Not only are both men advancing directly past the primary and on to November, but Weathers was the only name on the ballot.

Well, at least most of them.

Redistricting also meant that a small portion of the Stowe population is not voting for Lipsky or Weathers but rather participating in the Morristown-centric Lamoille-Washington House district.

That means a small percentage of Stoweites, mostly crowded around the Morristown and Elmore borders, have been placed in the Lamoille-Washington House district, which represents those two towns as well as Woodbury and Worcester.

Stowe town clerk Lisa Walker said voting went smoothly Tuesday, but it took some getting used to — all Stowe residents cast their ballots at Stowe Arena, but poll workers had to make sure to double check every voter’s address to make sure they were getting the correct ballot.

There are 563 registered voters in that small slice of Stowe, and they voted in a primary that also featured an uncontested primary contest for two seats. Moving on in the Lamoille-Washington district are Saudia LaMont, D-Morristown; Nichole Loati, R-Morristown; Ben Olsen, R-Morristown; and incumbent Avram Patt, D-Worcester.

Top of the ticket

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.

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 US Senator 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.

• U.S. House of Representatives: In the race to replace Welch, for the Democrats, Vermont Senate Pro Tem Becca Balint won with 60,948 votes, beating Lt. Gov. 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 in 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.

• Lamoille County State’s Attorney: incumbent Todd Shove, D-Elmore.

• Sheriff: incumbent Roger Marcoux, R-Morristown.

• Assistant judges: incumbent Madeline Motta, D-Stowe and David Yacovone, D-Morristown.

• High Bailiff: incumbent Scott Kirkpatrick, R-Johnson.

Stowe vote totals

Here’s how Stowe voters cast their ballots in Tuesday’s election in the top-of-the-ballot races. Only contested races are listed.

• 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

Updated Aug. 15 to correct the number of years Bill Doyle was a lawmaker.