By Guy Page

Are there enough House Democrats willing to elect a non-Democrat as Speaker of the House? A recent vote of the Democrat majority House caucus suggests it could happen.

The Democrat caucus Saturday, December 7 nominated Rep. Jill Krowinski of Burlington, the incumbent Speaker of the House, to continue her role. Just one member of the 88 Democrats present voted no. However, a procedural vote to restrict caucus leadership positions to Democrats only passed by a decidedly non-unanimous 60-18 vote. 

This vote matters because 1) there are 57-ish Republican members following the Nov. 5 election that eliminated the Democrat supermajority, and 2) 57 + 18 +1 more vote is enough to elect the next Speaker, and 3) for the first time in recent memory, there is a bona fide challenge to an incumbent Speaker. 

Independent Laura Sibilia (I-Dover) is running for the Speaker’s job, too. The final vote for the position will be held the first day of the legislative session by the Secretary of State. Krowinski  has served as Speaker for four years.

Rep. Anne Donahue of Northfield won re-election as an independent but had served many consecutive terms as a Republican and an outspoken floor critic of Krowinski. Yesterday, she said that Saturday’s vote shows a possible way forward for Sibilia. 

“The Dems were working hard to ensure that they could prevent any vote that would make it clear that Jill might lose, but I think what happened made it clear that Laura does have a path forward to win. But it’s far from a certain path,” Donahue told VDC in an email Monday. “They had only 60 votes for the motion to only permit a Democrat to be nominated, but that does not guarantee that the 18 “no” votes will all vote for Laura OR that the yes votes are locked in for Jill. 

“At least one person (Rep. Conor Casey, Montpelier) was arguing to vote to allow Laura to be nominated so that the issue of her as a viable candidate would be disposed of then and there, though he supported Jill. So he and others could have been one of the 18. Flip side: there are Ds who may have voted for Jill as Dem nominee but fully intending to vote for Laura. In addition, of course, not all Ds were there.”

It’s also not clear, at all, that Republicans will vote en masse for Sibilia. Unlike independents like Donahue and Stowe’s Jed Lipsky, she is not popular in the minority party, in part due to her generally Democrat-favoring votes and also to her sometimes heavyhanded approach as vice-chair of the Environment and Energy Committee. 

But still…..

“I think the vote did make it pretty clear that she is a viable candidate and that the Democratic leadership recognizes that and are quite worried. If they were confident that only a tiny handful would vote for Laura, it would have made much more sense to hold that vote,” Donahue concluded.

For her part, Krowinski urged her fellow Democrats to “improve and adapt” – an apparent reference to the new reality of having to work with Republican Gov. Phil Scott and the minority GOP caucus. 

“We are at a critical juncture in our state’s history,” Krowinski told the caucus. “This legislative session will define the future of our communities and our state. Let’s be honest, this work will not be easy. But I know we will all rise to the occasion. I know there’s a shared desire among us to improve and adapt, and I’m taking in all of our conversations to inform my leadership approach this session.”

In addition to the Speaker nominee, Rep. Lori Houghton (D-Essex) was elected as the Majority Leader. Houghton previously served as the Chair of the House Committee on Health Care. She replaces Rep. Emily Long of Newfane.

Houghton’s election represents a clean Chittenden County sweep for the two top jobs in both House and Senate. The upper chamber reappointed Burlington’s Phil Baruth as Senate Pro Tem, but replaced Windsor County Sen. Allison Clarkson as majority leader with Sen. Kesha Ram Hinsdale of Charlotte.

Houghton’s speech didn’t mention climate and reproductive rights, the guiding principles of recent Democrat caucuses.

“Today, for some we continue, for others we are just starting, the hard and important work of tackling the priorities Vermonters told us are important – the issues we heard about at doors this election, at the grocery store, at community conversations, in our emails – quality public education and property taxes, housing and health care,” Houghton said. “We need to focus on the priorities that will make Vermont more affordable.”

Representative Karen Dolan – another Essex Junction/Chittenden County legislator – was nominated and elected as the House Assistant Majority Leader.  The Senate Assistant Majority Leader or ‘whip’ is Becca White of Windsor County.

The caucus also nominated and elected Representative Mary-Katherine Stone (Burlington) and Representative Heather Surprenant (Barnard) to lead House communications, Representative Leslie Goldman (Windham County) to serve as the Leadership Development Assistant, and Representative John Bartholomew (Windsor County) to represent the House Democrats on the Rules Committee. 

Excerpts from a press statement from Rep. Houghton are published in this news story.