Amanda Janoo wins Democratic primary for Vermont governor, and more primary results

Democratic voters selected their nominee for governor in yesterday's primary election. An economist Amanda Genu is their pick to take on Republican incumbent Phil Scott in November. Janu was a political unknown when she announced her candidacy in March, but her progressive platform has captured the imagination of primary voters across the state. Vermont Public Capital Bureau reporter Peter Hirschfeld was up late last night and early this morning watching election results come in. And he joins us now to talk about the race for governor and other notable results from Tuesday's election. Good morning, Pete. Good morning, Janu. Great to be with you. Amanda Genu has never held elected office before. I mean, most voters didn't even know who she was when she launched her gubernatorial campaign. And yet she defeated Ali Richards, who, as you know, Pete, was pretty well known among the political establishment for her work in the State House as a child care lobbyist. So why did so many Democratic primary voters respond so favorably to Janu's message? A lot of Vermonters, like a lot of Americans, have lost faith in political institutions. And Amanda Genu has been incredibly effective at validating their concerns. She says the system is stacked against working class Vermonters, that corporations and wealthy individuals have co-opted government in some instances to serve their own interests. And she says that's happened under governors and presidents of both parties. She's promising to use state government to redistribute decision-making power and financial resources. back to communities, and it's a message that a lot of voters in Vermont are excited to hear. Genu was significantly outspent by Ali Richards, who also got considerable financial support from a super PAC that jumped into the race on her behalf. And I think it speaks to the enthusiasm that Janu has been able to elicit. A lot of Genu supporters that I've talked to see her as Vermont's next Bernie Sanders. Well, her message obviously went over well with Democratic primary voters. But I wonder, Pete, how well it's going to translate to the general election. She's going to need support from independence and moderate Democrats in order to beat Phil Scott. I've spoken with Republicans who are almost as excited about Genu's victory as her own supporters are. Paul Dame, the chair of the Vermont GOP, told me, look, Vermonters are happy to send a progressive firebrand to Congress. But when it comes to state government, he says they want a fiscal moderate who's going to budget under tight financial restraints. Genu has acknowledged that the last two Democratic governors, Peter Shumlin and Howard Dean, both governed as fiscal moderates. But she thinks voters across the political spectrum are ready for something new and something different. Her general election strategy will include a lot of outreach to rural communities that have historically tended to lean more conservative. And she thinks she has a message that can transcend ideological divides. We also saw a contested primary yesterday in the Democratic race for lieutenant governor. Molly Gray easily defeated her two opponents, Ryan McLaren and Esther Charleston. McLaren raised more than $400,000 in his campaign and had a key endorsement from Senator Peter Welch. Did Gray's margin of victory come as a surprise? So we reporters, Jen, it might surprise you, like to make predictions amongst ourselves about how these races are going to turn out. And yesterday, the question many of us were asking was, will Molly Gray win this race by more than 10 percentage points? She defeated McLaren by more than 30 points. And yes, that margin was a surprise.

This is Gray's third go-round for statewide office. She won the lieutenant governor's race in 2020, then lost the Democratic primary for U.S. House against Becca Ballin in 2022. So people know who she is. And we've seen some polling over the past couple months that indicates that John Rogers, he's the first term incumbent Republican lieutenant governor, might be vulnerable. Democrats think this race is their best shot at flipping a statewide office this cycle. And Gray's performance yesterday has a lot of party officials feeling even more confident about that race. Finally, Pete, in the minute or so, we have left. There were some crowded Democratic primaries in state Senate races this year. Ten incumbent Democratic senators faced a primary challenge. How did they fare yesterday? All 10 of those lawmakers survived those challenges and pretty comfortably once all the votes were counted. There was a lot of intrigue in Windsor County where six candidates competed for three seats. Incumbents, Becca White and Joe Major were the top vote getters in that district. And current state representative Elizabeth Burroughs won the last spot there. Ginny Lyons, Kaysha Ram Hinsdale, and Thomas Chittenden fended off two challengers in the three-seat Chittenden Southeast District. And Tanya Vyhovsky and Martin Gulik held on in Chittenden Central where Nikiel Goyle won the Democratic nomination for the third seat in that district and was actually, interestingly, the top vote getter yesterday. That is Vermont Public's Peter Hirschfeld, and we will bring more election results to you throughout the day, including on Vermont's edition live at noon, and head over to vermontpublic.org to read all of our coverage and analysis of yesterday's primaries. Now, Pete, I imagine you still have a lot of work to do today, but I hope you get some sleep, and thank you for stopping by this morning. Thank you, Jen.