John Rodgers, a Republican from Glover, Vt., was elected lieutenant governor of Vermont Tuesday, unseating Progressive/Democrat Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman in a rare ouster of a statewide incumbent. The dramatic conclusion came at the end of a highly competitive — and at times highly personal — contest for the state’s second highest-ranking office.
The outcome became clear around 1:20 a.m. Wednesday, when the last of Vermont’s 247 towns and cities reported results. At that time, Rodgers led Zuckerman 46.2% to 44.6%, according to the Secretary of State’s Office — with just 5,959 votes separating them.
If those results were certified, the Vermont Legislature would still have to sign off on the outcome in January, since no candidate received more than 50% of the vote — a requirement in the Vermont Constitution.
“We feel like we’ve got it,” Rodgers said earlier Wednesday morning, in a phone call around 12:30 a.m. “We couldn’t be happier with the results.”
About an hour before that, Zuckerman addressed reporters at the Vermont Democratic Party’s election night party in South Burlington, saying “there’s certainly a decent chance I’m going to lose” but declining to formally concede the race.
Reached at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday, Zuckerman said he needed more time to review the results.
“He’s clearly gotten more votes than me, and there’s a process and time to figure out what the next steps are as I just try to evaluate on two hours of sleep what is before us,” he said.
Zuckerman said he had not yet spoken with Rodgers but had texted him early Wednesday morning to say he’d call when he “had more clarity” about the situation. He said he had no reason to doubt the unofficial vote count but wanted to review “the recount question” and “other scenarios in state law.”
The result means that Republican Gov. Phil Scott — who cruised to reelection on Tuesday — will have a close ally serving in the lieutenant governor’s office for the first time in the eight years he’s served as chief executive.
The race saw both Rodgers and Zuckerman, who work as farmers and previously served alongside each other as state legislators, pitch themselves as a stronger voice for working class people and the better candidate to help tackle concerns over affordability and property tax increases in many communities necessary to fund public education.
It was also a contest between two candidates who do not fall neatly along party lines. Rodgers had long identified as a Democrat before he announced his bid for lieutenant governor earlier this year under the GOP mantle, quickly becoming a vocal critic of his former party. Meanwhile, Zuckerman is among the most recognizable candidates in the state to primarily identify with Vermont’s left-wing Progressive Party.
Rodgers won the Republican primary for lieutenant governor in August over Gregory Thayer, a former Rutland County GOP chair and staunch supporter of former President Donald Trump. Rodgers, however, is a vocal Trump critic, styling himself as a moderate Republican who in fact has the same politics he did when serving as a Democrat.
In fact, Rodgers told VtDigger at the polls in Glover Tuesday morning that he had written in Scott’s name for U.S. president, rather than voting for GOP nominee Donald Trump or Democratic nominee Kamala Harris.
The difference now, Rodgers argued on the campaign trail, was that the state’s Democratic party had swung too far to the left for his moderate, if somewhat populist, views. That message — which was rooted in criticism of recent policy passed by the Democrat-led Legislature such as the latest annual property-tax setting yield bill, or legislation to establish a clean heat standard policy in Vermont — appears to have resonated with voters statewide.
“As I stated throughout the campaign, there’s a lot of issues to deal with in Vermont, but nothing else matters if we can’t afford to live here,” Rodgers said early Wednesday morning.