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Vermont Legislature
Follow VPR's statehouse coverage, featuring Pete Hirschfeld and Bob Kinzel in our Statehouse Bureau in Montpelier.

With Lt. Gov. Seat Open, A Crowd Of Hopefuls Weighing Bids

Angela Evancie
/
VPR/file
Republican Lt. Gov. Phil Scott announced his candidacy for governor last week. Now prominent Republicans, Democrats and Progressives are all considering bids for his open seat.

The governor’s seat isn’t the only major statewide office up for grabs in 2016. When Republican Phil Scott announced his gubernatorial candidacy last week, the lieutenant governor’s post also opened up. And a growing crowd of political hopefuls is now weighing a bid for the office.

Ruminating Republicans

Republican Mark Snelling is no stranger to statewide campaigns. He helped his father, former Gov. Richard Snelling, run five of them. And he spearheaded his own race in 2010, when he lost the GOP primary to the eventual winner of the general election, Phil Scott.

Now that the popular incumbent is vacating his post to run for governor, however, Mark Snelling is pondering another bite at the apple. 

“Well I’ve always believed that the lieutenant governor’s office was a platform that would allow far more than what is constitutionally involved in being president of the Senate,” Snelling says.

Snelling is one of many Republicans weighing a bid to replace Scott. Former State Auditor Randy Brock, who ran for governor in 2012, says he’s considering a candidacy, as is Rutland County Sen. Kevin Mullin.

Even Scott Milne, the Pomfret businessman who nearly defeated Gov. Peter Shumlin in the race for governor last year, says a run for lieutenant governor isn’t off the table for him.

"I've always believed that the lieutenant governor's office was a platform that would allow far more than what is constitutionally involved in being president of the Senate." - Mark Snelling

Senate Majority Leader Joe Benning had previously expressed measured interest in the post, but said via email Thursday that “I'm thinking it's way too early to be thinking about this.”

“My preference would be that a female candidate emerge from the Republican side,” Benning said.

One female candidate who had been considering a run – Stowe Republican Rep. Heidi Scheuermann – says she’s decided against one.

“I’m sort of a policy person and I just don’t feel it in my heart to run at this point,” Scheuermann says. “I think I can be most effective and advocate for my priorities in my current position.”

Republicans of course aren’t the only ones tempted by the open seat.

Pondering Progressives

“Ousting a well-liked incumbent is very difficult thing to do, and so it is very tempting,” says Burlington Progressive Dean Corren says.

Corren ran for the seat last year, and lost by more than 25 percentage points to Scott. But he picked up 69,000 votes in the process, and says the groundwork he laid in his publicly financed campaign in 2014 would serve him well in 2016.

“That’s a first run, and in Vermont persistence definitely pays off, and people appreciate you coming back and trying again,” Corren says.

"In Vermont persistence definitely pays off, and people appreciate you coming back and trying again." - Burlington Progressive Dean Corren

Corren isn’t the only prominent Progressive mulling his options. Chittenden County Sen. David Zuckerman says he’s extremely interested in replacing Scott. He says he’s still trying to figure out whether family and professional obligations will allow for it.

“And there’s no doubt that it offers a soap box to lead on issues like health care and continuing to reform our health care system, water-quality issues, general climate change and environmental issues,” Zuckerman says. “And if I were to be elected on those kinds of issues, I think that would send a signal to the Senate and Senate leadership that those are important to people across the state.”

Deliberating Democrats

The list of Democrats considering a bid is every bit as long as the Republican’s.

Burlington Rep. Kesha Ram is the latest person to publicly declare she's contemplating a bid.

“Many people I respect have encouraged me to run and I am giving it serious consideration,” Ram said Thursday.

Twenty-eight-year-old Marlboro upstart Brandon Riker is the only person, Democrat or otherwise, to have made his candidacy official.

Chittenden County Sen. Philip Baruth says he’s pondering a run, and Windsor County Sen. Dick McCormack says he’s quote “giving very serious considering to running for lieutenant governor.”

"Many people I respect have encouraged me to run, and I am giving it serious consideration." - Rep. Kesha Ram

“I personally would love to be lieutenant governor, and I think I’d be very good at it,” says McCormack, who has served for more than two decades in the Legislature. “If you’re lieutenant governor it’s an interesting position, because it means you have to be qualified to be governor, should something happen. And I think I am, as much as anyone is.”

Senate President John Campbell also hasn’t ruled out a run.

Riker’s campaign is well underway, and the young financial-services executive has already poured nearly $60,000 of his own money into his first run for political office.

Riker says he’s been traveling the state daily, and will open field offices across Vermont after the New Year. He says the offices will give his field organization considerable geographical reach.

“But more importantly, they’re going to be used to engage Vermonters in this campaign, and make sure that their voice is being heard,” Riker says.

Making moves?

Riker’s most serious competition in the Democratic primary could come from Zuckerman who, while a Progressive, says he’d run for the Democratic nomination.

Zuckerman says the move – he used the tactic in his run for the Vermont Senate – would help unify the left-leaning voters the eventual nominee will need to secure the general election. Zuckerman says he’d wage a write-in candidacy in the Progressive primary. Candidates for office can have their names on only party’s primary ballot.

Zuckerman and Corren, both of whom say they’d seek public financing for their campaigns, have some logistical hurdles to clear before either can declare. Democratic Attorney General Bill Sorrell accused Corren of violating campaign finance statute in the last election, by asking for, and receiving, an email blast from the Vermont Democratic Party in support of his candidacy. 

Former State Auditor Randy Brock says he's also considering a run for the Franklin County senate seat - one of the county's two seats is held by Norm McAllister, the alleged rapist who was arrested on Statehouse grounds earlier this year.

Corren says the suit is without merit, and undermines the state’s public financing law. He’s filed a countersuit in federal court seeking changes to the state’s public financing statute. But until or unless the statute is altered, Corren and Zuckerman are prohibited from announcing their candidacies for office until next February, if they want to be eligible for the $200,000 in public financing available to candidates for lieutenant governor.

Brock says his decision is “days away.” Brock says he’s also considering a run for the Franklin County senate seat – one of the county’s two seats is held by Norm McAllister, the alleged rapist who was arrested on Statehouse grounds earlier this year and hasn’t returned to the building since. Brock formerly held the Senate seat. 

“A lot of people have talked to me about running for governor, for lieutenant governor and for my old senate seat, and I’m in process of deciding what I’m going to do in 2016,” says Brock.

Stowe Republican Rep. Heidi Scheuermann had been considering a run for lieutenant governor, but says she’s decided now is not the time.

“I’m sort of a policy person and I just don’t feel it in my heart to run at this point,” Scheuermann says. “I think I can be most effective and advocate for my priorities in my current position.”

This story was edited at 9:40 a.m. on 9/18/15 to include new comments from Senate Minority Leader Joe Benning

The Vermont Statehouse is often called the people’s house. I am your eyes and ears there. I keep a close eye on how legislation could affect your life; I also regularly speak to the people who write that legislation.
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