Royalton — State Rep. Sarah Buxton, D-Tunbridge, won the Windsor-Orange 1 Vermont House race by three votes on Tuesday, and Republican challenger David Ainsworth said he plans to ask for a recount.

With both Tunbridge and Royalton reporting in the two-town district, Buxton led Ainsworth, a former state lawmaker from Royalton, 1,003-1,000.

This marks yet another razor-thin result for the two candidates, who have faced off four times, including in 2010, when Buxton unseated Ainsworth by only one vote.

“Oh, yes,” Ainsworth said when asked on Wednesday whether he’d request a recount.

Ainsworth said he planned to file the necessary forms later that afternoon. Back in 2010, when Buxton took the seat by one vote, he also asked for ballots to be re-tallied, and the issue was resolved a few weeks later, he said.

The Republican hopeful said the move “probably won’t make any difference,” but added, “I owe it to the folks who wanted me to represent them.”

The close result came in a presidential election year, when Democrats usually expect to see a higher turnout. To explain the result, Ainsworth said he thought he may have gotten a boost from Phil Scott, the Republican governor-elect, who defeated Democratic nominee Sue Minter by a double-digit margin.

Ainsworth said he had gotten calls from local Democrats who told him they were voting for him because they were “fed up with what Montpelier was doing.”

“You can’t expect to vote the same people in and get different results,” he said.

Buxton could not be reached for comment on Wednesday.

Rob Wolfe can be reached at rwolfe@vnews.com or 603-727-3242.