Vermont 2016 Election Results

Vermont held its general election on November 8, 2016, deciding 180 legislative seats across 117 districts and 6 statewide offices led by the governorship. No chamber changed party control.

Highlights

• Phil Scott (R) won the governorship, ending the Democrats' hold on all of state government. But Democrats and Progressives gained two Senate seats and kept a large House majority, so Scott takes office facing a legislature controlled by the other side.
• Scott, the popular three-term lieutenant governor, beat Sue Minter (D) by about 9 points in the open race to succeed Gov. Peter Shumlin (D), who did not seek a fourth term. It was the most expensive governor’s race in state history. Democrats won every other statewide race. David Zuckerman (P/D) took Scott's old seat from the Republicans, beating former State Auditor Randy Brock (R) by about 7 points to become the highest-ranking Progressive officeholder in the party's history. T. J. Donovan (D) became the state's first new attorney general in nearly two decades.
• Both Senate gains came from Republicans. Sen. Bill Doyle (R), first elected in 1968 and known for his annual Town Meeting Day survey, finished fourth in the race for the Washington district's three seats, about 190 votes behind Francis Brooks (D), a former Democratic representative and sergeant-at-arms. In Chittenden, the Republicans' lone seat went to Debbie Ingram (D), leaving the county's six senators all Democrats and Progressives.
• Two House races went to recounts:
  • In Windsor-Orange-1, Rep. Sarah Buxton (D) led by three votes on election night, a recount ended in a tie, and a second recount gave David Ainsworth (R) the seat by one vote. Buxton had unseated Ainsworth by one vote in 2010.
  • In Orange-1, a judge ruled that Robert Frenier (R) had beaten Rep. Susan Hatch Davis (P/D) for the district's second seat by seven votes. Hatch Davis appealed to the House, which called off a third count over a ballot-bag seal and, in February, affirmed Frenier’s election.
• Rep. Mitzi Johnson (D) held her own Grand Isle-Chittenden seat by about 100 votes, then succeeded Shap Smith as Speaker in January. In the Senate, Democrats picked Sen. Tim Ashe (D/P), the top vote-getter in Chittenden, to succeed the retiring John Campbell as president pro tem. The House split 90-53-7: Democrats and Progressives together, then Republicans, then independents.

Legislature

• House (150 seats): 85 D, 53 R, 12 other or vacant before the election, 84 D, 52 R, 14 other or vacant after; control stayed with Democrats.
• Senate (30 seats): 21 D, 9 R before the election, 21 D, 7 R, 2 other or vacant after; control stayed with Democrats.

Statewide races

Legislative races