Montpelier
With 243 out of 275 precincts reporting, Scott held an 11-point lead over Minter.
Scott won the state’s more rural areas and also dominated in populous Chittenden County. The popular three-term lieutenant governor and racecar driver even won Minter’s hometown of Waterbury.
Scott’s win continues the Vermont tradition stretching back to the early 1960s in which the office has alternated between the two major parties. Scott will succeed Gov. Peter Shumlin, a three-term Democrat who opted against seeking a fourth term.
Scott’s win buoyed an otherwise dismal night for Vermont Republicans, who gathered at the Sheraton in South Burlington. The Democrats won every other statewide race and picked up enough seats in the Vermont House so that Scott may not be able to have a veto sustained in the lower chamber. The Republicans went into Tuesday’s election with House 53 seats in the 150-member chamber.
At about 11:30, an overjoyed Scott, his wife and daughters by his side, said he still couldn’t quite believe a working class kid from Barre was about to be the next governor. Scott said Minter graciously called him to concede shortly before she took the stage at 11 p.m. to thank her supporters.
“She congratulated me and said she didn’t want to wait any longer,” Scott said. “She thanked me for the campaign we ran and wished me the best as the next governor of Vermont.”
Scott said he would focus on the economy, fight to make Vermont more affordable, but made sure to reach out to the other side politically.
“In my administration, there will be room for everybody that has a good idea that will make the economy stronger and the state more affordable,” Scott said, telling the crowd he would create an administration that was “by your side.”
Minter came to the stage at the Hilton surrounded by family, campaign staffers and volunteers all of whom were clapping and dancing to Michael Fronte’s Say hey, I love you.
“It’s been a long night and it’s been an amazing journey,” Minter said to Democratic supporters and then she congratulated Scott on his campaign.
“I’m proud of our campaigns,” Minter said. “Here in Vermont we can still disagree without being disagreeable.”
In the race for lieutenant governor, state Sen. David Zuckerman, a Chittenden County Progressive who was also on the Democratic ballot, had 52 percent support with 257 of 276 precincts reporting.
That was outpacing Republican Randy Brock, a former state senator from Franklin County, who had 46 percent.
At a few minutes before 9:30 p.m., Vermont’s first new attorney general in two decades took the stage at the Democrats’ party to chants of “TJ, TJ.”
TJ Donovan told supporters that his Republican challenger, Deborah Bucknam, called him minutes earlier to concede the race.
Polls showed Donovan with a substantial lead throughout the evening. As of 10:08 p.m., with 157 of 275 districts reporting, Donovan had 62 percent of the vote, to Bucknam’s 29 percent.
In his victory speech at the Hilton Hotel in Burlington, Donovan invoked President Calvin Coolidge’s description of Vermont as “a brave little state.”
“Let us demonstrate our courage by showing compassion and understanding to all Vermonters, all Vermonters who get up every day, work hard, play by the rules,” Donovan said. “These are the folks government should work for.”
Donovan reiterated themes of his decade-long tenure as Chittenden County’s top cop, where he implemented several programs that have become models for statewide justice reform efforts, and said employment is key to public safety.
The Chittenden County state’s attorney also called for standing up for and showing compassion to people struggling with issues related to drug addiction, poverty and mental illness. “Quite simply put, we need to integrate our public health system with our public safety system and create treatment on demand and end the opiate epidemic in this state,” Donovan said.
This was Donovan’s second bid for the attorney general post. He nearly unseated incumbent Democrat Bill Sorrell in a heated 2012 primary race, but lost by a few hundred votes.
A few miles away, at the Republican Party’s election night gathering, Bucknam said she has no regrets.
“I’m disappointed in the results, but we had a great campaign,” Bucknam said. “We had great volunteers, we had a great staff, and we met a lot of wonderful people.”
She plans to go back to her private practice work, which she said has been backing up. Like Donovan, she praised her adversary.
“I think he’ll make a fine attorney general,” Bucknam said.
Donovan, the favorite to win throughout the 2016 race, far outraised and outspent his political opponent.
The Democrat was boosted by hefty donations from within Vermont’s borders and beyond. As of the most recent campaign finance filing deadline last week, Donovan had raised a total of more than $420,000 for his campaign, and spent more than $268,786.