The 2016 Vermont gubernatorial election took place on November 8, 2016, and elected the governor of Vermont, concurrently with the 2016 U.S. presidential election, elections to the United States Senate in other states, elections to the United States House of Representatives, and various state and local elections.
Incumbent Democratic governor Peter Shumlin was eligible to run for re-election to a fourth term in office, but opted to retire instead.
The primaries were held on August 9. Former Vermont Agency of Transportation Secretary Sue Minter won the Democratic nomination, and Lieutenant Governor Phil Scott won the Republican primary, with Scott defeating Minter in the general election. This was the first gubernatorial election in Vermont in which the winner was of a different party than the incumbent president since 1992.
The 2016 Vermont gubernatorial election took place on November 8, 2016, and elected the governor of Vermont, concurrently with the 2016 U.S. presidential election, elections to the United States Senate in other states, elections to the United States House of Representatives, and various state and local elections.
Incumbent Democratic governor Peter Shumlin was eligible to run for re-election to a fourth term in office, but opted to retire instead.
The primaries were held on August 9. Former Vermont Agency of Transportation Secretary Sue Minter won the Democratic nomination, and Lieutenant Governor Phil Scott won the Republican primary, with Scott defeating Minter in the general election. This was the first gubernatorial election in Vermont in which the winner was of a different party than the incumbent president since 1992.
Background
Two-term Democratic governor Peter Shumlin ran for re-election in 2014 and was widely expected to win easily. However, he only took a plurality of the vote, 46.36%, to Republican Scott Milne's 45.1%, and thus the result was decided by the Vermont General Assembly. The Assembly picked Shumlin by 110 votes to 69. Shumlin announced in June 2015 that he would not run for a fourth term.
Vermont and New Hampshire are the only states in the country whose governors are elected every two years.
Democratic primary
In August, Vermont House Speaker Shap Smith announced that he would be a candidate, but ended his candidacy in November 2015, after his wife was diagnosed with breast cancer. In September, Matt Dunne announced that he would also be a candidate. Also in September, former state legislator Sue Minter, then serving as Vermont's Secretary of Transportation, announced that she would resign her position in order to join the Democratic race. Former ambassador Peter Galbraith announced his candidacy in March 2016.
In July, H. Brook Paige was excluded from official Democratic Party events after making derogatory comments on social media.
Minter won the nomination decisively, and was endorsed by Dunne but not Galbraith.
Candidates
Declared
Matt Dunne, former state senator, Google executive, and candidate for governor in 2010
Cris Ericson, perennial candidate (also running for the U.S. Senate)
Peter W. Galbraith, former state senator and former United States Ambassador to Croatia
Sue Minter, former secretary of the Vermont Agency of Transportation and former state representative
H. Brooke Paige, former CEO of Remington News Service, candidate for governor and attorney general in 2014 and Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate in 2012 (also ran for attorney general)
Withdrawn
Shap Smith, Speaker of the Vermont House of Representatives (running for lieutenant governor)
Declined
T.J. Donovan, Chittenden County state's attorney and candidate for Vermont Attorney General in 2012 (running for Vermont attorney general)
Deborah Markowitz, secretary of the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources, former secretary of state of Vermont and candidate for governor in 2010
Doug Racine, former secretary of the Vermont Agency of Human Services, former lieutenant governor, nominee for governor in 2002 and candidate for governor in 2010
Peter Shumlin, incumbent governor
Peter Welch, U.S. representative and nominee for governor in 1990
Endorsements
Matt Dunne
Individuals
Current legislators
Tom Ayres, (D), Burlington City Council member
John Bartholomew, representative from Hartland
Philip Baruth, Senate Majority Leader from Chittenden County
Steve Berry, representative from Manchester
Tim Briglin, representative from Thetford
Robin Chestnut-Tangerman, representative from Middletown Springs
Kevin "Coach" Christie, representative from Hartford
Alison Clarkson, representative from Woodstock
Selene Colburn (P), Burlington City Council member
Dan Connor, representative from Fairfield
Susan Hatch Davis, representative from Washington
Bill Frank, representative from Underhill
Sara Giannoni (P), Burlington City Council member
Jane Knodell (P), Burlington City Council President
Gabrielle Lucke, representative from White River Junction
Chip Mason (D), Burlington City Council member
Dick McCormack, senator from Windsor County
Mark McDonald, senator from Orange County
Barbara Rachelson, representative from Burlington
Adam Roof (I), Burlington City Council member
Donna Sweaney, representative from Windsor
Max Tracy (P), Burlington City Council member
Tommy Walz, representative from Barre
Sam Young, representative from Glover
Teo Zagar, representative from Barnard
Former legislators
Judith Stephany Ahearn, senator from Chittenden County
Sandy Baird, representative from Burlington
Joyce Barbieri, representative from Wallingford
Chuck Bohi, representative from Hartford
Gordon Bristol, representative from Brattleboro
Carol Buchdahl, representative from Georgia
Jack Candon, representative from Norwich
Mary Ann Carlson, senator from Bennington County
Diane Carmolli, representative from Rutland City
Matt Choate, senator from Caledonia County
Andrew Christiansen, representative from East Montpelier
Wendell Coleman, representative from Londonderry
Don Collins, senator from Franklin County
Michel Consejo, representative from Swanton
Thomas Costello, representative from Brattleboro
Barbara Grimes, representative from Burlington
Christopher Healy, representative from Norwich
Steve Hingtgen, representative from Burlington
Cheryl Hooker, representative from Rutland City
Margaret Hummel, representative from Underhill
Michael Klopchin, representative from Clarendon
Alysia Krasnow Butler, representative from Charlotte
Jerry Kreitzer, representative from Rutland City
Doris Lingelbach, representative from Thetford
Mary Mazzariello, representative from Rutland City
Hinda Miller, senator from Chittenden County
Anne Mook, representative from Bennington
Donny Osman, representative from Plainfield
Mary-Ann Parizo, representative from Essex
Dexter Randall, representative from Newport
Cheryl Rivers, senator from Windsor County
Ann Seibert, representative from Norwich
Ernest Shand, representative from Weathersfield
Andrew Snyder, representative from Pittsford
Bob Stannard, representative from Manchester
Sheila Vowinkel, representative from Hartford
Perry Waite, representative from Pawlett
Linda Waite-Simpson, representative from Essex
Cindy Weed, representative from Enosburg
Jeff Young, representative from St. Albans
Organizations
Rights and Democracy, progressive activist group
Vermont Labor Council AFL–CIO
Vermont State Employees' Association
Newspapers
Burlington Free Press
Sue Minter
Individuals
Chris Bray (D), state senator and Senate Natural Resources Committee Chairman
Howard Dean (D), former governor of Vermont
Philip H. Hoff (D), former governor of Vermont
Madeleine Kunin (D), former governor of Vermont, former lieutenant governor of Vermont, and former United States Ambassador to Switzerland and Liechtenstein
Jason Lorber (D), former Chittenden state representative
Bill McKibben, climate activist (originally supported Dunne)
Doug Racine (D), former secretary of the Vermont Agency of Human Services, former lieutenant governor, nominee for governor in 2002 and candidate for governor in 2010
Mary Sullivan (D), Chittenden state representative
Organizations
EMILY's List
Vermont Conservation Voters
Newspapers
The Manchester Journal
Republican primary
In September 2015, Lieutenant Governor Phil Scott entered the race, and 2014 gubernatorial nominee Scott Milne, who had been considering running, endorsed Scott. In October 2015, retired Wall Street executive Bruce Lisman officially announced his "outsider" candidacy.
Scott was endorsed by most active Vermont Republican politicians, and held a strong lead in a February poll. Lisman's campaign criticized Scott for being too closely connected to outgoing Democratic governor Peter Shumlin and for "plagiarizing" Lisman's ideas, and linked Scott to the "failures" of the Vermont Health Connect insurance platform and the school redistricting Act 46; the candidates' campaigns disagreed over whether this constituted "negative campaigning," and Scott's campaign said the attacks were "patently false".
Scott won the nomination by a large margin.
Candidates
Declared
Bruce Lisman, retired Wall Street executive
Phil Scott, lieutenant governor
Declined
Randy Brock, former state senator, former Vermont Auditor of Accounts and nominee for governor in 2012 (running for lieutenant governor)
Endorsements
Phil Scott
Vermont state officials
Randy Brock, former Vermont state auditor and state senator (R-Franklin), and candidate for lieutenant governor
Jim Douglas, former governor of Vermont
Vermont state senators
Joe Benning, Vermont Senate minority leader (R-Caledonia)
Brian Collamore, Vermont Senate assistant minority leader (R-Rutland)
John Crowley, former Vermont state senator (R-Rutland)
Judy Bloomer Crowley, former Vermont state senator (R-Rutland)
Dustin Allard Degree, Vermont state senator (R-Franklin)
William T. Doyle, Vermont state senator (R-Washington)
Margaret Flory, Vermont state senator (R-Rutland)
Jim Greenwood, former Vermont state senator (R-Essex/Orleans)
Hull Maynard, former Vermont state senator (R-Rutland)
Dick Mazza, state senator (D-Grand Isle)
Kevin Mullin, Vermont state senator (R-Rutland)
Helen Riehle, Vermont state senator (R-Chittenden)
Richard Westman, Vermont state senator (R-Lamoille)