2024 Vermont Senate election


The 2024 Vermont Senate election took place on November 5, 2024, as part of the biennial United States elections. The election coincided with elections for other offices including the U.S. Senate, U.S. House, Governor, and State House. State senators serve two-year terms in the Vermont Senate. Primary elections were held on August 13, 2024.
Vermont voters elected all 30 state senators from 16 districts, with each district electing between one and three senators. Districts that elect more than one senator use plurality block voting; in districts that elect two senators, each voter can select up to two candidates on their ballot, and in districts that elect three senators, voters can select up to three candidates. Under Vermont's electoral fusion system, candidates can receive the nomination of more than one party, with all their nominations being listed on the ballot.
Prior to the election, the Democrat–Progressive coalition held a 23-seat supermajority in the senate. In order to gain control of the chamber, Republicans either needed to flip nine seats in the senate, or flip eight seats and the office of [Lieutenant 2024 Vermont gubernatorial election|Governor of Vermont|lieutenant governor], which presides over the senate and acts as the tiebreaking vote. However, they only needed to flip four seats to end their opponents' supermajority. Ultimately, Republicans, aided by popular GOP governor Phil Scott campaigning for downballot Republican candidates harder than he had in previous years, flipped six seats in the state senate, thus successfully breaking the Democrats' supermajority, and requiring Republican support to overturn Phil Scott’s vetoes. The decline in Democratic showing was notable as they received less votes collectively in 2024, than the 2022 midterms.

Members not seeing reelection

Four incumbents did not seek re-election.

Democrats

  1. Bennington: Brian Campion retired.
  2. Caledonia: Jane Kitchel retired.
  3. Orleans: Robert Starr retired to run for Justice of the Peace in Troy.
  4. Windsor: Richard McCormack retired.

Addison

  • Elects two senators.
The incumbents are Democrats Christopher Bray and Ruth Hardy, who won with 33.8% and 33.3% of the vote in 2022, respectively.

Democratic primary

Declared

Campaign

Elder largely avoided criticizing the two incumbents directly, instead saying he decided to run for Senate due to his conflicts with House leadership; Elder alleged that they "made it clear the doors were shut for me to participate." The race was competitive, with all three candidates reporting roughly equal fundraising.

Republican primary

Declared

Bennington

  • Elects two senators.
The incumbents are Democrats Brian Campion and Dick Sears, who won with only write-in opposition in 2022. Sears filed to run for re-election, while Campion announced he would retire. However, Sears died in June 2024, shortly after the filing deadline.

Democratic primary

Declared

  • Seth Bongartz, state representative
  • Tina Cook, marketing professional '
  • Rob Plunkett, deputy state's attorney '
  • Kate Seaton, technical account manager ''''

Deceased

Declined

Campaign

Despite his death, Sears remained on the ballot in the August Democratic primary; if he won, a convention of delegates from towns in the district would have met to choose a replacement nominee. Several write-in candidates entered the race. One candidate, Manchester selectman Jonathan West, urged Democrats in the district to vote for Sears, hoping to clinch the nomination at a convention.

Republican primary

Declared

Independents

Declared

  • Steve Berry, former Democratic state representative
  • Cynthia Browning, Arlington selectwoman and former Democratic state representative
  • Lawrence Whitmire, construction contractor and conservative activist

Caledonia

  • Elects one senator.
The incumbent is Democrat Jane Kitchel, who won with 63.4% of the vote in 2022. Kitchel is not running for re-election.

Democratic primary

Declared

  • Amanda Cochrane, nonprofit executive
  • Shawn Hallisey, nursing home administrator

Declined

Republican primary

Declared

Chittenden Central

  • Elects three senators.
The incumbents are Democrats Philip Baruth and Martine Gulick and Progressive Tanya Vyhovsky, who won with 31.5%, 29.0%, and 25.7% of the vote in 2022, respectively, against an independent candidate. All three incumbents are running for re-election.

Democratic primary

Declared

Campaign

Ledbetter outlined few policy differences between himself and the district's three incumbents, instead campaigning on his experience as a journalist. However, VTDigger described Ledbetter as a more centrist alternative to the incumbents, and he criticized Vyhovsky for voting against a bill to increase penalties for retail theft. The three incumbents ran together as a slate. Vyhovsky and Gulick criticized Ledbetter for accepting large contributions from Republicans, landlords, and business interests, and for promising to compromise with Republican governor Phil Scott, which Gulick argued could "mean that you have to make compromises on your values."
Ledbetter had significant name recognition and outraised all three incumbents by a wide margin, creating a competitive race. VTDigger wrote that Gulick was "generally considered the most vulnerable of the three incumbents," owing to her narrow victory in the 2022 Democratic primary for this district.

Chittenden North

  • Elects one senator.
The incumbent is Democrat Irene Wrenner, who won with 51.3% of the vote in 2022.

Democratic primary

Declared

Republican primary

Declared

Chittenden Southeast

  • Elects three senators.
The incumbents are Democrats Kesha Ram Hinsdale, Thomas Chittenden and Ginny Lyons, who won with 32.1%, 26.6%, and 25.1% of the vote in 2022, respectively.

Democratic primary

Declared

Republican primary

Declared

Independents

Declared

  • Taylor Craven, former member of the Colchester Planning Commission

Essex

  • Elects one senator.
The incumbent is Republican Russ Ingalls, who won with only write-in opposition in 2022.

Republican primary

Declared

Franklin

  • Elects two senators.
The incumbents are Republicans Randy Brock and Robert Norris, who won with 33.1% and 29.6% of the vote in 2022, respectively.

Republican primary

Declared

Grand Isle

  • Elects one senator.
The incumbent was Democrat Richard Mazza, who won with 73.0% of the vote in 2022. Mazza resigned on April 8, 2024, due to health issues; he later died on May 28. Governor Phil Scott appointed Democrat Andy Julow, a nonprofit executive and former chair of the Champlain Valley School District Board, to Mazza's vacant seat.

Democratic primary

Declared

  • Julie Hulburd, member of the Vermont Cannabis Control Board and former Colchester selectman
  • Andy Julow, incumbent senator

Declined

Republican primary

Declared

Lamoille

  • Elects one senator.
The incumbent is Republican Richard Westman, who won against only write-in opposition in 2022.

Republican primary

Declared

Independents

Declared

Orange

  • Elects one senator.
The incumbent is Democrat Mark MacDonald, who won with 55.4% of the vote in 2022.

Democratic primary

Declared

Republican primary

Declared

Orleans

  • Elects one senator.
The incumbent is Democrat Robert Starr, who won with 58.1% of the vote in 2022. Starr is not running for re-election.

Democratic primary

Declared

Declined

Republican primary

Declared

Declined

Rutland

  • Elects three senators.
The incumbents are Republicans Brian Collamore, Terry Williams, and Dave Weeks, who won with 21.0%, 17.3%, and 16.3% of the vote in 2022, respectively.

Republican primary

Declared

Democratic primary

Declared

  • Marsha Cassel, retired teacher
  • Dana Peterson
  • Robert Richards, chair of the Fair Haven Selectboard

Washington

  • Elects three senators.
The incumbents are Democrats Ann Cummings, Anne Watson, and Andrew Perchlik, who won with 26.2%, 22.9%, and 21.1% of the vote in 2022, respectively.

Democratic primary

Declared

Republican primary

Declared

Aftermath

Rob Roper received enough write-in votes to win the Republican nomination, but dropped out of the race after the primary. Republican Party officials in Washington County were then able to choose a replacement nominee.
Replacement nominee
  • Mike Doyle, innkeeper and nominee for this district in 2016

Windham

  • Elects two senators.
The incumbents are Democrats Wendy Harrison and Nader Hashim, who won with 34.2% and 31.2% of the vote in 2022, respectively.

Democratic primary

Declared

Republican primary

Declared

  • Dale Gassett, chair of the Windham County Republican Party
  • Richard Morton, former chair of the Windham County Republican Party, perennial candidate, and nominee for this district in 2022

Independents

Declared

Windsor

  • Elects three senators.
The incumbents are Democrats Alison Clarkson, Rebecca White, and Richard McCormack, who won with 23.4%, 22.9%, and 22.7% of the vote in 2022, respectively. McCormack is not running for re-election.

Democratic primary

Declared

Withdrawn

  • Marc Nemeth, attorney ''''

Declined

Republican primary

Declared

  • Andrea Murray, member of the Weathersfield Zoning Board of Adjustments
  • Jonathan Gleason, ski instructor
  • Robert Ruhlin, construction company owner
  • Jack Williams, retired quality assurance professional and nominee for this district in 2016, 2018, and 2020

Independents

Declared

  • Marc Nemeth, attorney