(Host) And in the lieutenant governor’s race, the general election lineup is now set.
State senator Phil Scott defeated businessman Mark Snelling for the GOP nomination. And Rutland Representative Steve Howard won the Democratic nomination over New Haven Representative Chris Bray.
VPR’s Bob Kinzel reports.
(Kinzel) Phil Scott’s supporters erupted into a frenzy last night when they learned at 10:45 that Mark Snelling had called Scott to concede the race. Scott finished with a more than 10 percent lead over Snelling.
Scott said the key to his victory was the campaign’s decision to reach out to thousands of voters who don’t usually participate in the political process.
(Scott) "And signing up some of the voters that we signed up across this state, bringing them back into the fold, those that feel that they’re not a part of the process and they don’t have a voice, we brought them in and made them realize they do have a voice. And they exercised it tonight."
(Kinzel) Scott, who is also a race car driver, used a sports analogy to describe his upcoming general election race.
(Scott) "Now we just move forward. This is the first half of the race. We’re making a slight pit stop here, but now we go from here forward."
(Kinzel) On the Democratic side, Steve Howard defeated Chris Bray by roughly a 5 percent margin. He says voters are ready for an activist lieutenant governor.
(Howard) "They want someone who’s going to be a fighter for the middle class. And I think that message resonated. People want change. They want a new economic policy. They want new leadership and a new style."
(Kinzel) Howard says developing new economic policies will be one of his top priorities.
(Howard) "The one we’ve had for 8 years, the Bush-Douglas-Dubie strategy has failed. And it’s resulted in massive amounts of economic dislocation."
(Kinzel) In the Progressive primary for lieutenant governor, Marjorie Power defeated Boots Wardinski. Power says it’s likely that she’ll drop out of the race if she thinks Democrat Howard will support the key priorities of the Progressive Party.
For VPR News I’m Bob Kinzel in Montpelier.
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