Milne nearly topples Shumlin

In a shocker, Scott Milne nearly upset Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin in Tuesday’s election, and because neither of them got 50 percent of the vote, the Legislature must pick the next governor.

Election handicappers figured Shumlin had an easy road to his third two-year term, as Milne, the Republican nominee, was very late in entering the campaign, had little money, didn’t get much help from the GOP, and, as a first-time campaigner, made some missteps.

However, Milne’s criticism of Shumlin got surprising traction, as he blasted the Democratic governor’s “experiment” on single-payer health care that has run into major problems.

“I think some of us underestimated the level of frustration with the governor,” said Anthony Pollina, the incumbent Washington County senator who kept his seat Tuesday despite trailing until late in the vote-counting.

Pollina has run for governor — finishing a distant third in 2000 and second in 2008 — said that, while passing GMO labeling laws and tackling single-payer health care are good things, they don’t help wages. He’s not suprised the conservatives made inroads this election.

“We don’t do much to put money into people’s pockets, and that’s something we need to focus on,” Pollina said.

The vote was so close that both candidates went to bed Tuesday night not knowing who had won. Results continued to trickle in from towns that hand-count ballots rather than using counting machines. With all but two precincts reporting Wednesday morning, Shumlin led by about 2,500 votes.

Milne refused to concede the election, saying he wanted to see the results when all the votes were counted.

Libertarian candidate Dan Feliciano got more than 8,000 votes in the election; had those votes gone to Milne, he would be governor-elect today.

Locally, Milne won in Duxbury, Stowe and Morristown, while the incumbent governor carried Waterbury.

By law, if no candidate receives 50 percent of the vote in a general election, the Legislature chooses the winner. Shumlin is certain to get the nod, as Democrats hold a huge majority in both the House and Senate, and since 1853 the Legislature has always chosen the candidate who received a plurality.

Incumbents win

Although it was close, all three incumbents were re-elected to the state Senate from Washington County.

For a while Tuesday night, it looked as if Republican Pat McDonald of Berlin might knock off Pollina, a Progressive/Democrat who lives in Middlesex, for the third spot, but Pollina did well in late-reporting precincts and pulled away for the win. Pollina had 9,923 votes to 8,488 for McDonald.

In early precinct reporting, the B’s — Barre Town, Barre City and Berlin — delivered for the Republicans. But when results from Montpelier and some smaller communities came in a couple of hours later, they favored Pollina heavily.

“The way it happened, the first results in, those are the towns I do poorly in,” Pollina said. “We felt Montpelier would be positive, and I hoped the rural towns we’d be picking up. I have good name recognition there.”

Republican Bill Doyle, the Senate’s longest-serving member, led the field with 10,918 votes; Democrat Ann Cummings was also returned to the Senate with 10,469 votes. Both live in Montpelier.

Republican Dexter Lefavour and Progressive/Democrat Sandy Gaffney trailed the field.

In local House races, the incumbents also won.

Although not all the votes were in Wednesday morning, Democrats Rebecca Ellis and Tom Stevens held big leads over independent Jerry Mullen for the two House seats in the Washington-Chittenden district. The district covers Waterbury, Bolton, Buels Gore and Huntington.

In the district that includes Duxbury and the Mad River Valley, incumbents Maxine Grad, a Democrat from Moretown, and Adam Greshin, an independent from Warren, easily won re-election over Ed Read and Heidi Spear, both independents from Fayston. The district covers Duxbury, Fayston, Moretown, Waitsfield and Warren.

One incumbent was ousted: Washington County State’s Attorney Tom Kelly. Kelly, the Republican incumbent from Barre, lost to Democrat Scott Williams of Berlin. Williams had won endorsements from the mayors of Barre and Montpelier, among others.

Statewide races

• U.S. House of Representatives, one seat: Incumbent Democrat Peter Welch of Norwich cruised past Republican Mark Donka by more than a 2:1 ratio.

• Lieutenant governor: Republican incumbent Phil Scott of Berlin trounced Progressive/Democratic nominee Dean Corren of Burlington by about 50,000 votes.

• Attorney general: Democratic incumbent William H. Sorrell of Burlington beat Republican Shane McCormack of Underhill by 39,000 votes. A Liberty Union candidate, Rosemarie Jackowski of Bennington, was also on the ballot.

• Treasurer: Incumbent Democrat Beth Pearce of Barre City easily beat Progressive Don Schramm of Burlington and Liberty Union candidate Murray Ngoima of Pomfret.

• Secretary of state: Incumbent Democrat Jim Condos of Montpelier far outdistanced Progressive Ben Eastwood of Montpelier and Liberty Union candidate Mary Alice Herbert of Putney.

• Auditor of accounts: The incumbent, Democratic/Progressive nominee Doug Hoffer of Burlington, was unopposed.

County offices

Elected without opposition were Jeffrey P. Kilgore, a Democrat from Waterbury, for probate judge; longtime sheriff W. Samuel Hill of Montpelier, who holds both the Republican and Democratic nominations; and Republican Marc Poulin of Barre Town for high bailiff.