Windsor
In Windsor County, with 19 of 28 precincts reporting, state Rep. Alison Clarkson, D-Woodstock, had 20 percent of the vote; incumbent Alice Nitka, D-Ludlow, had 19 percent of the vote and incumbent Dick McCormack, D-Bethel, had 19 percent of the vote.
Democrats fared well in Hartford. Clarkson, who aimed to take the seat of former Senate President Pro Tempore John Campbell, D-Quechee, led the way with 2,763 votes. McCormack came in second there with 2,325 votes and Nitka came in third with 2,169.
The Republicans fared better in Springfield. Randy Gray, of Springfield, tied Nitka for top vote-getter with 1,733 votes and Mark Donka, of Hartford, earned the second most votes with 1,639.
Republican Jack Williams, of Perkinsville, and Independent Scott Woodward, of Pomfret, trailed behind the others in both communities.
“We now have a large enough majority that we can start squabbling among ourselves,” McCormack said Tuesday night in a telephone interview from the Stone Hearth Inn in Chester, Vt. “That’s what Democrats always do.”
In the upcoming session, McCormack, who was first appointed to the Senate in 1989, said he aims to reform Act 46, a 2015 education reform law that seeks to curb rising education costs by pushing districts to consolidate into larger, more cost-effective units over the next couple of years.
He also said there’s still work to be done on health care reform and continued effort needed to address “the challenge of environmentally responsible prosperity.”
Overall, McCormack, who sits on the Senate Appropriations Committee, said the challenge is to keep taxes down while covering the cost of services.
“People think their taxes are too high, yet you’ve got to pay the bills,” he said.
In Orange District, it appeared state Sen. Mark MacDonald, of Williamstown, would fend off a challenge from former state Senator Stephen Webster, R-Randolph. This was the sixth time the two faced off for the seat, which MacDonald has held since 2003.
With five of 11 precincts reporting, MacDonald had 59 percent of the vote and Webster had 41 percent.
State Sens. Joe Benning, R-Lyndonville, and Jane Kitchel, D-Danville, also appeared likely to hold onto their seats in the two-seat Caledonia district, which includes several Bradford-area towns.
The two easily outpaced Marijuana Party candidate Galen Dively III, of Walden.
With 15 of 23 precincts reporting, Kitchel had 48 percent of the vote, Benning had 42 percent and Dively had 9 percent.
Staff Writer Nora Doyle-Burr can be reached at ndoyleburr@vnews.com or 603-727-3213.
