While the next election is more than 16 months away, early jockeying began in earnest last week when Democratic Gov. Peter Shumlin announced he won’t seek a fourth term. That’s prompted many to speculate that Republican Lt. Gov. Phil Scott is even more likely to leave his post to seek the state’s top office.
Senate President Pro Tem John Campbell (D-Windsor), a close ally of Scott’s, says such a vacancy may well lure him into his first statewide race.
“Depending on what [Scott] does, the lieutenant governor’s office is one I certainly would be interested in,” says the Quechee lawyer and Windsor County deputy state’s attorney.
“The revolution at the top has me thinking about this now in a more real-world way,” he says.
The Burlington novelist and University of Vermont English professor says the lieutenant governor plays a “crucial role” in presiding over the Senate and serving as an “honest broker.”
“I think anyone will tell you Phil Scott has filled that role and done it very well. That’s the focus I could bring to it if I decided to run,” Baruth says. “As majority leader for the last three years, I’ve directed traffic on the Senate floor. I’ve presided over the Senate. It’s a complicated thing and not something everybody can get right.”
“There’s a part of me that would really like to be lieutenant governor,” he says.
McCormack calls the office a “strange” one, because its occupant must be “someone who is qualified to be governor but who is doing considerably less than that.” He says he would enjoy the ceremonial obligations — “I love the idea of giving awards to middle school kids” — and would use the office as “a bully pulpit.”
“The other thing is, I really love the Senate and I love the orderliness of debate. I think we’ve lost that in recent years,” he says, pausing. “I think I’m talking myself into this.”
“I have been asked by several people — and I’m not going to say no,” the Lyndonville trial attorney says. “I’m going to say, ‘I’m considering,’ but it’s a big step, and I want to see what the lay of the land is before I get any further involved in that conversation.”
Of course, incumbent senators aren’t the only ones eyeing the race.
Secretary of Transportation Sue Minter, a former Democratic legislator from Waterbury, says she’s “considering all options” for 2016. That could mean a run for governor, lieutenant governor or the U.S. House, if Congressman Peter Welch (D-Vt.) runs for governor. Others named as potential gubernatorial candidates might also take a look at the LG contest if Welch big-foots them out of the gubernatorial race.
One little-known candidate has already filed paperwork with the secretary of state’s office to open a campaign bank account and has launched a website declaring he “is running for Lt. Governor.”
Though Riker has never run for public office before, he worked for President Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign and for Sen. Jon Tester’s (D-Mont.) and former Alaska senator Mark Begich’s reelection races. He says Scott’s decision will not influence his own.
“Where I’m from in Marlboro, we don’t have reliable access to the internet,” he says. “We just can’t bring jobs to the state if that’s the kind of infrastructure we have. And out lieutenant governor hasn’t been active in pushing policy. It’s time that position is treated like a full-time job by someone with a vision for the state.”
Terri Hallenbeck contributed reporting.
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Peter Welch is not going to run for Governor of VT. He may see an advantage in letting all these would be’s go for it by exploiting the rumor he may run so they will jump in. Peter knows he can nab a U.S. Senate seat in a few short years and is working in crucial committees in Congress now. It’s simple, and it means he will have plenty of campaign cash when that time comes.
Campbell for Lieutenant Governor? You’ve got to be kidding.
After the train wreck of his leadership of the Senate, hard to believe anyone would take him seriously. The guy is, by all accounts, a complete organizational nightmare.
(And the story of how he finagled funding for a position that he later got as a good ole boy hire with no open process would surely come back to haunt him in any campaign.)
Of course the good news might be that Campbell runs and loses in the Democratic primary – maybe we could finally break the conservative hold of the Campbell/Mazza/Scott triumvirate that makes all the key decisions in that body.
Instead of a bunch of old retreads, maybe we could see some new faces step up into statewide politics and run for the position – Kesha Ram, Mitzi Johnson, Sarah Buxton, Brian Campion, Sarah Copeland-Hanzas, Jill Krowinski, Matthew Trieber, Tristan Toleno, Sam Young…..
Time for a new younger generation to move into state leadership.
OMG, Ms. Anderson. It seems like you haven’t been paying attention at all. You want to elect to statewide office all the people who’ve helped make this state the anti – business, youth – unfriendly, economic trainwreck that it has become.
OMG — you would hope that someone with the user name “knowyourassumptions” wouldn’t make (inaccurate) assumptions about the gender of another poster. (For the record, it is “Mr.” not “Ms.” )
Many of the people I mentioned are, in fact, successful small business people, working to create jobs and economic development in the state.
They understand that Vermont’s success isn’t going to be found in some race to the economic bottom – competing with Mississippi and South Carolina for the lowest wages, worst worker protections and least government services. And they know that we can’t compete with states like New York for multi-billion dollar handouts for multi-national corporations.
Vermont’s economic future rests in creating and maintaining a state that people and business want to live and work in – including protecting the environment, treating people fairly in the workplace, having an educated workforce, furthering our unique small town environments, keeping a vibrant arts and culture scene, and having a population that is healthy. A state like our’s will attract and maintain business through the quality of life that is valued and protected here.
That’s why our 3.6 unemployment rate is a full 2% below the national rate. That’s why we consistently rank at the top of the “healthiest state” ratings. That’s why we’re consistently in the top ten when it comes to states with the most educated populations. That’s why our poverty rate is one of the lowest in the country.
Vermont’s brand is what matters for our economic future. And that’s why we reject policies that would turn us into Alabama.
Guess you haven’t been outside of Chittenden County lately. Vermont outside of Chittenden County is becoming an economic wasteland. And any economist will tell you that the unemployment rate doesn’t say much about the success of the economy. The moon has a ZERO unemployment rate. So would you say the moon’s economy is better than Vermont’s? The unemployment statistic must be viewed with other factors, like GDP, per capita income, new business startups, age of the population, etc. Many states with a higher unemployment rate have much stronger economies than ours. Your reference to Alabama is a typical liberal straw man. That is not the only alternative to our current anti-business attitude. We don’t have to emulate Alabama in order to promote business growth here. Just look across the Connecticut River. They laugh every time we increase taxes and regulations. No, we don’t have to emulate Alabama, but we will have to get rid of the old guard business-hating ideologues who’ve run the economy into the ground.