Why Democrats Lost More Seats in Vermont Than Any Other State

It was no surprise that most voters in Vermont rejected Donald J.Trump on Election Day, favoring Vice President Kamala Harris by a margin of more than 30 points.But lower down the ballot, in a sweeping show of dissatisfaction, voters cast out more than two dozen Democratic state lawmakers.

The outcome eliminated Democratic supermajorities in the Vermont Legislature and put the small, rural state at the leading edge of the anti-incumbent wave that swept the country this election.More Democrats lost seats in Vermont than in any other state.The results stunned lawmakers, set off soul-searching and left even some stalwart Democratic voters elated.“It was a revolution,” said John McCormick, 81, of Bristol, who helped a Republican candidate campaign for, and win, a seat in Vermont’s State Senate.

“I’m a full-blown Democrat and environmentalist, and I didn’t just vote for him — I did everything I could to get him elected.”To be sure, the election did not come close to ending the Democratic majorities in either chamber of the State Legislature.In the 150-member House, Republicans will now hold 56 seats instead of 37; in the 30-member Senate, their numbers increased from 13 to 17.

But the shift is expected to change the dynamics at the State House, motivating Democrats who may have once ignored the minority’s views to engage in more discussion and consider more compromise.That could allow for progress on the top priorities of Gov.Phil Scott, a Republican who won re-election: overhauling the school funding system, with a goal of reining in tax increases and streamlining Vermont’s strict rules for building new housing amid surging demand.

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