Republicans flipped six Vermont Senate seats, crushing Democrats' supermajority

Updated at 1:31 am

The Vermont Republican Party has chipped away at Democrats' supermajority in the Vermont Senate, unseating four incumbents and dominating races for open seats.

According to unofficial results from the Secretary of State's Office, Republicans toppled Democratic incumbents in Addison, Orange, Chittenden-North and Grand Isle districts and secured two more open seats being vacated by longtime Democrats in Orleans and Grand Isle Caledonia counties .

Overall, the GOP has nearly doubled its representation in the upper house, from seven seats last session to 13. That means Democrats and Progressives, who held 23 seats, will now control 17 seats — and will no longer have the required two-thirds majority to override gubernatorial vetoes. (A similar dynamic played out in the Vermont House of Representatives, where Democrats also lost their supermajority.)

The Addison result represented the night's biggest upset for the chamber. Sen. Chris Bray, chairman of the Senate Natural Resources and Energy Committee, lost to relative political newcomer Steven Heffernan in a district considered solidly Democratic.

Preliminary results from the Secretary of State's Office for the district showed Sen. Ruth Hardy, D-Addison, with 23.47%, closely followed by Heffernan at 23.34% and Bray at 22.04%.

In the race for Orange County, Republican Larry Hart, a hardware store salesman, defeated Senator Mark MacDonald, a Democrat who served in the legislature for more than 30 years. According to preliminary results Tuesday night, Hart won 54% of the vote to MacDonald's 42%.

At Gov. Phil Scott's election night party, Vermont Republican Party Chairman Paul Dame said of the GOP's electoral success, “I don't think we've had such a good night in 10 years.”

“Over the last two years, we've had a bit of a stalemate with the governor saying, 'I have a mandate with 70% of the vote,' and (House Speaker Jill) Krowinski and (Senate President Pro Tempore Phil) Baruth saying, 'We have a mandate with.' “Supermajority.” And there was kind of an impasse,” Dame said. “Tonight, voters considered how to resolve this standoff. They said, 'You should have listened to the governor for the last two years.'”

Meanwhile, as the results of the Vermont Democratic Party's election night meeting in South Burlington came in, Baruth told the crowd there: “I'm not going to lie to you – this is a tough night.”

The party's executive director, Jim Dandeneau, was also repressed. “We are not seeing the results on site that we had hoped for,” he said shortly after 10 p.m. In an interview an hour later, he said the messages from state Republicans — and Gov. Scott in particular — about property taxes had proven more effective than what he called Democrats' “Herculean work” of knocking on doors and talking to them contacted local voters.

“He has flooded the airwaves with his messages about tax cuts. That wasn’t great for us in the end.”

By 9 p.m., the GOP had flipped its first seat, with Rep. Patrick Brennan, R-Colchester, ousting recently appointed Democratic Sen. Andy Julow in Grand Isle County.

Brennan, a longtime member of the Vermont House of Representatives, won the seat with 51% of the vote to Julow's 45.6%, according to preliminary results from the Secretary of State's Office.

Julow, of North Hero, was appointed in May to fill the late Sen. Dick Mazza's single-district seat. Mazza, a moderate Democrat, held the seat for decades before he died this year. Both candidates modeled themselves on the late Dean of the Senate.

As of 9:30 p.m., Republicans had gained another seat, this time as Rep. Chris Mattos, R-Milton, won the Chittenden North district.

Sen. Irene Wrenner, D-Chittenden North, was trying to defend her seat after winning the newly created battleground district two years ago.

Driven by a dominant result in Milton and Fairfax, Mattos received 54% of the vote to Wrenner's 42%, according to preliminary results from the Secretary of State's office.

The race marked the Vermont Republican Party's second attempt in Chittenden County's northernmost Senate district, which has been a target of the party since reapportionment in 2022 that split Chittenden County's former six-member district into three parts.

Republican candidates also won seats in two counties in the kingdom's northeast on Tuesday evening. In Caledonia County, Republican Rep. Scott Beck will replace outgoing Democratic Sen. Jane Kitchel, who long chaired the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee.

According to preliminary results from the Secretary of State's Office, Beck received 56% of the vote to Democrat Amanda Cochrane's 40%.

“Vermont residents have made it clear that this state is becoming unaffordable for far too many,” Beck said in an interview at Gov. Scott’s campaign party in Montpelier. “They tell us they don’t want the most extreme plans. They want the middle to be represented again.”

In neighboring Orleans County, Republican Sam Douglass, a local GOP leader from North Troy, also declared victory over Rep. Katherine Sims, D-Craftsbury. He will fill the seat held by retiring Democratic Senator Bobby Starr.

“Up in the Northeast Kingdom, we're a very tight-knit bunch, and we know when to be inauthentic,” Douglass said in an interview Tuesday night. “This may sound a little radical, but I don’t think it was the Republicans who won. I think it was common sense that won.”

According to the State Department's preliminary results, Douglass secured 56% of the vote while Sims received 38% of the vote.

The deaths and departures of six incumbent Democrats this year presented Republicans with an opportunity to weaken the strength of the other party. And in a number of districts, Democratic incumbents faced stiff competition.

In April, Mazza resigned his Grand Isle seat. And in June, Sen. Dick Sears, a longtime Democrat from Bennington County, died. The resignations of Sens. Brian Campion, D-Bennington, Dick McCormack, D-Windsor, Kitchel and Starr provided additional opportunities for newcomers to enter the upper chamber.

The open seats, several of which were in purple districts, became a particular focus of the Vermont Republican Party, which sought to end Democrats' supermajority and allow Republican Gov. Phil Scott to veto bills without being overridden become.

The five most competitive Senate races in Caledonia, Chittenden North, Grand Isle, Orange and Orleans districts brought in tens of thousands in donations from wealthy Burlington-area families.

Scott campaigned harder than in recent years for his party colleagues, including in the five high-spending races.

Shaun Robinson and Sarah Mearhoff contributed reporting.