Trailing by more than 6,000 votes, Lieutenant Governor David Zuckerman has yet to make a concession to John Rodgers

Although unofficial results show he lost Tuesday's election for Vermont's lieutenant governor, Progressive/Democratic incumbent David Zuckerman had not yet conceded the race as of Wednesday night – even though his opponent, Republican John Rodgers, all but declared victory.

“Vermont, we have a new lieutenant governor,” Rodgers wrote on his campaign Facebook page Wednesday morning, but added that he expected there would be a recount of the race.

As of 5 p.m. Wednesday, when unofficial results from all Vermont cities and towns were in, the gap between the candidates was narrow but showed Rodgers with 46.2% of the vote to Zuckerman's 44.6%. About 6,020 votes separated them.

But there's a catch: Because neither candidate received 50% or more of the vote, Vermont's constitution requires the Legislature to have the final say when it meets in January. This assumes the Secretary of State's office certifies the current vote shares next week.

The Constitution does not require lawmakers to select the candidate who received the most votes, which in this case is Rodgers, unofficial results show.

In an interview on WCAX Wednesday morning, Zuckerman pointed to this constitutional process and said he plans to “really analyze the data” in the coming days.

“The Constitution provides a process for figuring out what happens next. I have other considerations – are you doing a recount? It’s really too early for me to just say he won,” the incumbent said. “But there is no doubt that he has more votes at this point.”

In an interview with VTDigger later that morning, Zuckerman would not say whether he would seek to challenge the result before lawmakers in January.

“Right now I’m operating on two hours of sleep and need to evaluate the results,” he said.

Later in the day, Zuckerman expressed gloom in an email to his campaign supporters, writing, “Last night did not produce the results we had hoped for.” But he appeared unable to formally concede the race.

And in a text message to VTDigger around 4:30 p.m., he declined to elaborate.

“I think I made it clear today,” Zuckerman wrote. “I won’t make a final decision when it comes to two hours of sleep.”

Rodgers had by now all but officially declared victory, although he said in an interview Wednesday afternoon that he was waiting for the Secretary of State's office to formally certify the results this week, a process that typically takes a week.

Paul Heintz contributed reporting.