Vermont

The Republican Party, which originally drew strength from powerful abolitionist sentiment, gained control of Vermont state offices in 1856 and for more than 100 years dominated state politics. No Democrat was elected governor from 1853 until 1962.

In 1984, Democrat Madeleine M. Kunin was elected as Vermont's first woman governor and only the third Democratic governor in the state's history. Kunin served as governor for three terms, followed in 1990 by Republican Richard Snelling. When Snelling died in office in August 1991, Lieutenant Governor Howard Dean, a Democrat, became governor. Dean was elected to full two-year terms in November 1992, 1994, 1996, 1998, and 2000. (The state has no term limit for the office of governor.) Dean announced in 2001 that he would not seek reelection in 2002, and in May 2002, became the first candidate to enter the race for the Democratic nomination for president in 2004. Republican James Douglas was elected governor of Vermont in 2002.

Vermont's delegation to the US House of Representatives consists of one Independent. In mid-2003, Democrats controlled the state senate, with 19 seats out of 30. In the state house of representatives, the Democrats held 69 seats; the Republicans had 74; and Independents had 7. Following the 2002 election, Vermont had one Independent US senator, James Jeffords, elected in 1988 as a Republican and reelected in 2000 (he switched party affiliation from the Republican Party to independent status in 2001), and one Democratic senator, Patrick Leahy, who was elected to his fifth term in 1998. The state's sole representative in the US House, Bernard Sanders, is an Independent (elected 2002).

Vermont has often shown its independence in national political elections. In 1832, it was the only state to cast a plurality vote for the Anti-Masonic presidential candidate, William Wirt; in 1912, the only state besides Utah to vote for William Howard Taft; and in 1936, the only state besides Maine to prefer Alf Landon to Franklin D. Roosevelt. In 2000, Vermonters gave 51% of their presidential vote to Democratic candidate Al Gore; 41% to Republican George W. Bush; and 7% to Green Party candidate Ralph Nader. In 2002 there were 418,718 registered voters; there is no party registration in the state. The state had three electoral votes in the 2000 presidential election.

Vermont Presidential Vote by Major Political Parties, 1948–2000

Vermont Presidential Vote by Major Political Parties, 1948–2000