BRADFORD, Vt. — State Sen. Larry Hart, a Topsham Republican serving in public office for the first time, has announced he will step down from his seat effective Nov. 14.
Hart submitted his resignation to Senate Secretary John Bloomer, Gov. Phil Scott and Lt. Gov. John Rodgers on Monday.
“It became too difficult for me to accomplish any major goals in my first session as a Senator,” Hart wrote in his letter of resignation. “The time and commitment became too great for my health and emotional well-being.”
The decision came “after much soul searching and discussion,” Hart wrote.
Hart, who is in his early 60s, had no prior political experience in Montpelier, easily flipped the Orange County Senate seat last November, winning about 55% of the vote against longtime Democratic incumbent Mark MacDonald of Williamstown.
Hart was one of six Republican senators who flipped a seat in November 2024 and helped eliminate Democrats’ supermajority in that chamber.
Hart, who had previously served on the Topsham Selectboard, told voters he was inspired to run in part to honor a daughter who had died of a drug overdose.
“People were saying we needed somebody who can listen representing us,” Hart said in an interview at the Statehouse in April. “I’m a listener.”
Hart is the second of Vermont’s 13 Republican state senators to resign in the last week.
The other is Orleans County Sen. Sam Douglass, who resigned last Wednesday after the news outlet Politico uncovered his contributions to a racist group chat from a national young Republicans club.
Gov. Phil Scott will have to appoint replacements for Hart and Douglass.
Meanwhile, state Rep. Monique Priestley, D-Bradford, announced Wednesday that she will run for the Orange County state Senate seat in 2026.
Priestley, 39, plans a senate campaign that “will focus on housing, climate resilience, affordability, economic fairness, and government transparency,” Priestley wrote in a news release.
Priestley is currently serving her second term in the Vermont House of Representatives for the district including Bradford, Fairlee and West Fairlee.
During her tenure as a state representative, Priestley has focused on rural development, data privacy and artificial intelligence.
Professionally, Priestley is a technology consultant. She has a background in nonprofit work, previously serving on boards for organizations including Vital Communities, Little Rivers Health Care, the Bradford Business Association and the Vermont Council on Rural Development.