By Michael Bielawski
Party primary elections for the Legislature and statewide office are set to take place Aug. 13, and some key candidate races are already taking shape. The last day that people can have their petitions to be a candidate is May 30.
Caledonia County
Some news for Caledonia County includes that longtime incumbent Sen. Jane Kitchel, D-Caledonia, will not seek reelection. She served as chair of the Senate Committee on Appropriations for 13 years. She’s also been on the Senate Transportation Committee since 2005.
Rep. Scott Beck, R-St. Johnsbury and a strong opponent of taxation who leads House Republicans on the House Ways & Means (tax) committee, is running for a Senate seat in the GOP primary against JT Dodge, a conservative activist known for his critiques of the carbon tax, among other issues.
Beck recently wrote his reflections about this year’s House session.
“In FY25 local voters are projected to approve an additional $189M in local spending, $60M is more typical,” he said in critique of the state spending formula that actually encourages overspending. He also wrote, “The biggest disappointment in H.887 [education spending reforms] is a lack of structural reform. In other words, next year will be just as bad and H.887 does nothing to prevent it.”
Dodge, on his Facebook page, recently posted a video of himself criticizing lawmakers using mandates to force new energy technologies and policies that he says are causing much more economic harm to Vermonters than they are allegedly saving the earth.
Bennington County
In recent years there has been speculation that Sen. Dick Sears might step down from the Senate, due to health considerations. However, it is the junior senator, Brian Campion, who made news today with his announcement he’s not seeking another term. Campion served two terms in the House before being elected to the Senate in 2014. His departure may prompt a Senate run by House veterans in Bennington County.
Orleans County
The Orleans County Vermont State Senate seat is up for grabs after Sen. Robert Starr, D-Essex/Orleans, 81, recently announced that he would not seek reelection.
Conrad Bellavance of Newport Center and Sam Douglass of North Troy are running in the GOP primary. On the Democrat side, Rep. Katherine Sims, D-Craftsbury, is seeking the Senate seat.
Bellavance has experience as the safety and compliance manager for Fred’s Energy, a heating and fueling company based in Morristown.
Douglass’s campaign page highlights his career. It states, “Besides his work in Mental Health and Real Estate, Sam has held a variety of jobs, including working at Jay Peak, the Stoweflake Resort, a pizzeria, and also making the donuts at 4 am at North Country Donuts.”
Chittenden County
For one of the Chittenden County Senate districts, a likely primary developed with news that Stewart Ledbetter of Winooski, best known as a news journalist for four decades in Vermont with NBC News, has thrown his hat into the ring. His Chittenden Central district is now represented by Senate President Pro Tem Phil Baruth, Sen. Tanya Vyhovsky, and Sen. Martine Gulick.
Ledbetter’s policy positions are still relatively unknown to the general public. In his announcement, he says that he will focus on housing costs and the tax burden.
He said, “We need a lot more housing that working people can afford or we risk losing a generation of young Vermonters now spending almost all of their paychecks on rent.”
Ledbetter will also focus on “improving flood resiliency in an age of climate change,” according to a VermontBiz,com report.
Addison County
Rep. Caleb Elder, D-Starksboro, is running for the Senate. He will be against incumbents Sen. Ruth Hardy, D-Addison, and Sen. Chris Bray, D-Addison.
Elder states on his campaign page that while he wants more investment in housing and helping taxpayers, he also wants to allocate many resources to fighting climate change. “Climate Resiliency work has never been as urgently needed as right now,” he wrote.
Orange County
Incumbent Sen. Mark MacDonald has said he will seek re-election. Larry Hart has filed to run in the Republican primary.
Washington County
At the GOP state convention Saturday, supporters were collecting petition signatures for County Chair Donald Koch (son of former Rep. Tom Koch) and former Barre mayor Lucas Herring. Another candidate may announce very soon, Donald Koch said. The plans of the three incumbent Democrat senators are not known at this time.
The list of primary candidates so far
This list of candidates who have submitted petitions to the Secretary of State. Excerpted from sos.vermont.gov. It was last updated on Friday.
| Qualified Candidates for the Statewide Primary- August 13, 2024 | ||||
| Last Updated: 5/17/2024 | ||||
| Contest | District Name | Name On Ballot | Town Of Residence | Party |
| HIGH BAILIFF | ADDISON | DAVE SILBERMAN | MIDDLEBURY | DEMOCRATIC |
| REPRESENTATIVE TO CONGRESS | MARK COESTER | WESTMINSTER | REPUBLICAN | |
| STATE REPRESENTATIVE | ADD 1 | ROBIN SCHEU | MIDDLEBURY | DEMOCRATIC |
| STATE REPRESENTATIVE | ADD RUT | JIM CASEY | HUBBARDTON | REPUBLICAN |
| STATE REPRESENTATIVE | BEN 1 | JONATHAN COOPER | POWNAL | DEMOCRATIC |
| STATE REPRESENTATIVE | BEN 2 | ASHER EDELSON | BENNINGTON | DEMOCRATIC |
| STATE REPRESENTATIVE | BEN 4 | JOSEPH “JOE” GERVAIS | ARLINGTON | REPUBLICAN |
| STATE REPRESENTATIVE | CAL 2 | MICHAEL “MIKE” SOUTHWORTH | WALDEN | REPUBLICAN |
| STATE REPRESENTATIVE | CAL 3 | JOHN W SIMONS | SHEFFIELD | REPUBLICAN |
| STATE REPRESENTATIVE | CAL 3 | MARTHA “MARTY” FELTUS | LYNDON | REPUBLICAN |
| STATE REPRESENTATIVE | CHI 13 | TIFF BLUEMLE | BURLINGTON | DEMOCRATIC |
| STATE REPRESENTATIVE | CHI 18 | CAROL ODE | BURLINGTON | DEMOCRATIC |
| STATE REPRESENTATIVE | CHI 20 | DOUG BISHOP | COLCHESTER | DEMOCRATIC |
| STATE REPRESENTATIVE | CHI 20 | GAYLE PEZZO | COLCHESTER | DEMOCRATIC |
| STATE REPRESENTATIVE | CHI 22 | KAREN DOLAN | ESSEX JUNCTION CITY | DEMOCRATIC |
| STATE REPRESENTATIVE | CHI 22 | LORI HOUGHTON | ESSEX JUNCTION CITY | DEMOCRATIC |
| STATE REPRESENTATIVE | CHI 25 | JULIA ANDREWS | WESTFORD | DEMOCRATIC |
| STATE REPRESENTATIVE | ESX CAL | JOHN KASCENSKA | BURKE | REPUBLICAN |
| STATE REPRESENTATIVE | ESX ORL | LARRY LABOR | MORGAN | REPUBLICAN |
| STATE REPRESENTATIVE | FRA 7 | ALLEN “PENNY” DEMAR | ENOSBURGH | REPUBLICAN |
| STATE REPRESENTATIVE | ORL 4 | ANTHONY “TONY” DANIELS | ALBANY | REPUBLICAN |
| STATE REPRESENTATIVE | ORL 4 | LEANNE HARPLE | GLOVER | DEMOCRATIC |
| STATE REPRESENTATIVE | RUT 3 | CHRIS BROWN | CASTLETON | REPUBLICAN |
| STATE REPRESENTATIVE | WAS 3 | JONATHAN WILLIAMS | BARRE CITY | DEMOCRATIC |
| STATE REPRESENTATIVE | WAS 6 | MARC MIHALY | CALAIS | DEMOCRATIC |
| STATE REPRESENTATIVE | WAS ORA | FRANCIS “TOPPER” MCFAUN | BARRE TOWN | REPUBLICAN |
| STATE REPRESENTATIVE | WAS ORA | GINA GALFETTI | BARRE TOWN | REPUBLICAN |
| STATE REPRESENTATIVE | WDH 3 | LESLIE GOLDMAN | ROCKINGHAM | DEMOCRATIC |
| STATE REPRESENTATIVE | WDH 3 | MICHELLE BOS-LUN | WESTMINSTER | DEMOCRATIC |
| STATE REPRESENTATIVE | WDH 7 | AMANDA ELLIS-THURBER | BRATTLEBORO | DEMOCRATIC |
| STATE REPRESENTATIVE | WDH 8 | MOLLIE S. BURKE | BRATTLEBORO | DEMOCRATIC |
| STATE REPRESENTATIVE | WDR 3 | ALICE M. EMMONS | SPRINGFIELD | DEMOCRATIC |
| STATE REPRESENTATIVE | WDR WDH | HEATHER CHASE | CHESTER | DEMOCRATIC |
| STATE SENATOR | CHI CT 1 | MARTINE LAROCQUE GULICK | BURLINGTON | DEMOCRATIC |
| STATE SENATOR | CHI SE 1 | LOUIS MEYERS | SOUTH BURLINGTON | DEMOCRATIC |
| STATE SENATOR | ORA 1 | LARRY HART SR. | TOPSHAM | REPUBLICAN |
| STATE SENATOR | ORL 1 | SAMUEL A. DOUGLASS | TROY | REPUBLICAN |
The author is a writer for the Vermont Daily Chronicle
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Categories: politics
The magnitude of corruption from Washington D.C. has now eclipse the Vermont Grift, who would have thought it could happen.
https://www.theburningplatform.com/2024/05/20/what-this-dhs-guy-said-terrified-me-to-the-core/
Now Vermont has it’s own legions of grifting…..million dollars for Balaint, from one person, our affordable housing scam that’s for rich developers to keep Vermonters as tenants….now goes on steroids with proposed Act250 changes.
EB-5 of course, then there is the ongoing medical, municipal and educational grift, hey if you Voters don’t like it, we’ll take away your right to vote on it!
Then Washington spends trillions of dollars to these NGO’s, of which should be tried for treason and war against the United States, that is what they are doing. These organizations and the people in them should be rounded up, put in prison or at the very least sent back to the countries with the other invaders.
It’s going to get interesting for sure. The magnitude of corruption is really hard to grasp. How are we going to get our Trillion dollars of tax money back? It should at the very least bankrupt all the people involved.
This is highly illegal; OMG has shown videos of this corruption. The invasion is so massive it has to be ORGANIZED…..this is what ORGANIZERS do…..just an fyi incase anyone’s interested.
This is how marxism, socialism works, some pigs are WAY more equal than others, here is but a perfect example.
How could I forget….we’ve got our own little homeless grift, maybe that’s where they learned it from.
Here’s a sincere wish for Stuart Ledbetter to succeed in his candidacy for the State Senate. Perhaps there is no single Vermont Senate district in need of at least a somewhat more moderate bit of representation than this one. I don’t know Stu’s politics, but his thoughtful approach to the issues of the day during his distinguished broadcast career are a hopeful sign. Is he a moderate conservative like his father (who came thisclose to defeating Sen. Leahy in 1980)? Probably not, but Vermont needs more common-sense representation in Montpelier to fill the shoes of people like Dick Mazza and Bobby Starr.
thirty vermont senators//// four down twenty six more to go////
It’s not a housing issue. It a job issue. You can’t live in vermont and pay for5 others that doncontribute to the payroll tax. Stop inviting people that don’t contribute just suck off the system. There is zero accountability zero enforcement of laws that politicians create to distract one from the problem. Interest rates skyrocketed to pay for covid and illegals. People who work for a living know how much they can afford and then the government tells yhem they don’t qualify unless they make less money. So what does one do. Meets the criteria that makes them accepted. The system is failing the workingclass for the non working or so called handicap drug felons. Stop enabling ansstart investigating. We taxpayer’s pay for all the loopholes that allow non contributing individuals to live a life of the taxpayer’s.