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Sanders: 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% 80–90% Tarrant: 50–60% Tie: 40–50% | |||||||||||||||||
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Elections in Vermont |
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Mayor of Burlington U.S. Representative from Vermont's at-large district U.S. Senator from Vermont
Presidential campaigns Published works
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The 2006 United States Senate election in Vermont was held November 7, 2006. Incumbent independent Senator Jim Jeffords decided to retire rather than seek reelection to a fourth term, and Bernie Sanders was elected to succeed him.
Sanders, who represented Vermont's at-large House district as an independent, won the Democratic primary, and then dropped out to run as an independent. Many Democratic politicians across the country endorsed him, and no Democrat was on the ballot. The state committee of the Vermont Democratic Party voted unanimously to endorse Sanders. [1]
Sanders won the seat with 65% of the vote. His win marked the first Republican loss since 1856, decisively ending the longest single-party Senate winning streak in history. [2]
After Jeffords retired, there was brief speculation that DNC chair Howard Dean, a former governor and 2004 presidential candidate, would run for Senate. After Dean quickly issued a statement that he would not run, independent Representative Bernie Sanders became the subject of media attention, and ultimately entered and won the race. [3]
Sanders won the Democratic primary, but declined the nomination, leaving no Democratic nominee on the ballot. This victory ensured that no Democrat would appear on the general election ballot to split the vote with Sanders, an ally of the Democrats who had been supported by leaders in the Democratic Party. [8]
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | Bernie Sanders | 35,954 | 94.15 | |
Democratic | Louis W. Thabault | 585 | 1.53 | |
Democratic | Craig Hill | 504 | 1.32 | |
Democratic | Larry Drown | 403 | 1.05 | |
Democratic | Peter Moss | 384 | 1.00 | |
Democratic | Write-ins | 355 | 0.93 | |
Total votes | 38,186 | 100.0 |
National Republicans pressured Lieutenant Governor Brian Dubie to enter the race, and he formed an exploratory committee to do so, but the committee raised little money and Dubie opted not to run. [10] [11] Governor Jim Douglas also declined to run. [10]
Businessman Richard Tarrant announced his campaign in October 2005. [11] Tarrant largely self-funded his campaign, and frequently denounced political partisanship. [12]
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Republican | Richard Tarrant | 22,008 | 61.84 | |
Republican | Greg Parke | 10,479 | 29.44 | |
Republican | Cris Ericson | 1,722 | 4.84 | |
Republican | Write-ins | 1,382 | 3.88 | |
Total votes | 35,591 | 100.00 |
In mid-August 2006, the campaign heated up considerably, with Tarrant fully engaged in heavy media advertising, most of which criticized Sanders's public stances. Tarrant ran several ads accusing Sanders of representing himself differently from his voting record in the House of Representatives, citing such examples as Sanders's votes against Amber Alert and against increased penalties for child pornography. Sanders responded with an ad stating that Tarrant's claims were "dishonest" and "distort my record", and presented what he viewed as more accurate explanations of his voting record. [17]
Tarrant also claimed that Sanders's election would lead to an exodus of businesses from Vermont. [18] Sanders based his campaign on a well-tested message of fixing economic inequality, and ran a positive campaign that took advantage of his high name recognition in the state. [19]
The election was the most expensive political campaign in Vermont history. [31]
Tarrant was a self-funded candidate, with 98% of all his campaign expenditures coming from personal sources. He spent $7,315,854 total. [32] Sanders' top contributors include the plaintiffs' law firm Baron & Budd; the International Union of Operating Engineers; the Laborers' International Union of North America; and the Communication Workers of America. Sanders raised $5,554,466 total. [33] In total, Tarrant and Sanders spent $13,771,060. [32] Tarrant spent $85 per vote, the largest cost per vote of any race in the country during 2006, while Sanders spent $34 per vote. [34]
No. | Date | Host | Moderator | Link | Participants | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
P Participant A Absent N Non-invitee I Invitee W Withdrawn | ||||||
Richard Tarrant | Bernie Sanders | |||||
1 | October 23, 2006 | C-SPAN | Thom Hallock | C-SPAN | P | P |
Source | Ranking | As of |
---|---|---|
The Cook Political Report [35] | Likely I | November 6, 2006 |
Sabato's Crystal Ball [36] | Solid I | November 6, 2006 |
Rothenberg Political Report [37] | Solid I | November 6, 2006 |
RealClearPolitics [38] | Solid I | November 6, 2006 |
Source | Date | Bernie Sanders (I) | Richard Tarrant (R) |
---|---|---|---|
Research 2000 | November 1, 2005 | 64% | 16% |
Rasmussen | January 5, 2006 | 70% | 25% |
Doyle Poll | March 7, 2006 | 62% | 26% |
Research 2000 | May 11, 2006 | 61% | 24% |
Rasmussen | June 16, 2006 | 67% | 29% |
American Research Group | July 27, 2006 | 56% | 35% |
Rasmussen | August 3, 2006 | 62% | 34% |
American Research Group | September 15, 2006 | 55% | 40% |
Research 2000 | September 18–19, 2006 | 58% | 33% |
Rasmussen | September 24, 2006 | 64% | 32% |
Research 2000 Archived November 14, 2006, at the Wayback Machine | October 23–24, 2006 | 57% | 36% |
Official results from the Vermont United States Senate. [39] Sanders won a majority of the votes in every county in the state, with 57% as his lowest county total.
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Independent | Bernie Sanders | 171,638 | 65.41% | N/A | |
Republican | Richard Tarrant | 84,924 | 32.36% | −33.20% | |
Independent | Cris Ericson | 1,735 | 0.66% | N/A | |
Green | Craig Hill | 1,536 | 0.59% | N/A | |
Independent | Peter D. Moss | 1,518 | 0.58% | N/A | |
Liberty Union | Peter Diamondstone | 801 | 0.31% | −0.21% | |
Write-in | 267 | 0.10% | N/A | ||
Total votes | 262,419 | 100.00% | N/A | ||
Independent hold |
Bernard Sanders is an American politician and activist who is the senior United States senator from Vermont. Sanders is the longest-serving independent in U.S. congressional history, but maintains a close relationship with the Democratic Party, having caucused with House and Senate Democrats for most of his congressional career and sought the party's presidential nomination in 2016 and 2020.
Peter A. Clavelle is an American politician who served as the 38th and 40th mayor of Burlington, Vermont, and was the first member of a third party to hold the office since James Edmund Burke in 1935. Bernie Sanders also won several elections as an independent candidate in the 1980s, defeating both Republican and Democratic candidates. Sanders and Clavelle founded the Vermont Progressive Party during Sanders' time as mayor.
David E. Zuckerman is an American politician who is currently serving as the 84th lieutenant governor of Vermont since 2023. He previously served two terms as the 82nd lieutenant governor of Vermont, from 2017 to 2021. A member of the Vermont Progressive Party, he previously served in the Vermont House of Representatives for seven terms (1997–2011), and the Vermont Senate for two (2013–2017). In 2020, Zuckerman was a candidate for governor of Vermont. He ran with the support of both the Progressive Party and the Democratic Party, but lost to incumbent governor Phil Scott in the general election.
Peter Francis Welch is an American lawyer and politician serving since 2023 as the junior United States senator from Vermont. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the U.S. representative for Vermont's at-large congressional district from 2007 to 2023. He has been a major figure in Vermont politics for over four decades, and is only the second Democrat to be elected a senator from the state.
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Timothy R. Ashe is an American politician who ran for a wide range of political offices in Vermont and served as a Democrat/Progressive in the Vermont State Senate from Chittenden County from 2009 to 2021 and as President pro tempore of the Vermont Senate from 2017 until 2021.
The 2000 United States Senate election in Vermont took place on November 7, 2000. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Jim Jeffords won re-election to a third term in office. In May 2001, Jeffords left the Republican Party and announced that he would become an independent who would caucus with the Democratic Party. His party exit broke the 50–50 lock in the Senate and effectively gave the Democrats the majority. Thus, that switch marked the first time since 1855 that Vermont had no Republicans in its entire congressional delegation.
The 2012 United States Senate election in Vermont was held on November 6, 2012. Incumbent independent Senator Bernie Sanders won reelection to a second term in a landslide, defeating Republican nominee John MacGovern with 71% of the vote. Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist, was first elected with 65% of the vote in 2006, and was the first non-Republican to win this seat since 1850.
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The 1988 United States House of Representatives election in Vermont was held on November 8, 1988. Republican nominee Peter Plympton Smith defeated Independent candidate Bernie Sanders and Democratic nominee Paul N. Poirier.
The 1992 United States House of Representatives election in Vermont was held on Tuesday, November 3, 1992, to elect the U.S. representative from the state's at-large congressional district. The election coincided with the elections of other federal and state offices, including a quadrennial presidential election and an election to the U.S. Senate.
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The 2020 Vermont gubernatorial election was held on November 3, 2020, to elect the Governor of Vermont. As Vermont does not impose term limits upon its governors, incumbent Republican Governor Phil Scott was eligible to run for re-election to a third two-year term in office. On November 18, 2019, he confirmed that he was running for reelection, but did not yet publicly announce his campaign. On May 28, 2020, he officially announced his candidacy but stated that he would not campaign, maintain a campaign staff, or fundraise because of the state of emergency due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Vermont. The primary was held on August 11. Scott won re-election to a third term in a landslide, defeating Progressive and Democratic nominee, Lieutenant Governor David Zuckerman.
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