Analysis: Southern Windsor and the emerging Republican Party
Cynthia Prairie | Nov 13, 2024 | Comments 2
By Cynthia Prairie
©2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC
Republicans did win three local House seats, with Kevin Winter of Ludlow elected to the Rutland‐Windsor District of Ludlow, Mount Holly and Shrewsbury. He beat Democrat Adrienne Raymond by more than 400 votes.
VL Coffin of Cavendish beat Democrat Mark Yuengling by 140 votes for the Windsor-2 District seat of Baltimore, Cavendish and Weathersfield.
That seat had been held by Democrat John Arrison, who served two terms in the House but did not seek re-election.
And Tom Charlton of Chester beat incumbent Democrat Heather Chase by a slim 43 votes to represent the Windsor‐Windham District of Athens, Chester, Grafton and Windham.
These wins and 14 other races where Democratic House seats flipped to Republican will help break up the Democrats’ supermajority that that has been the bane of Gov. Phil Scott, who saw quite a number of his vetoes overturned, angering not just Republicans but enough Democrats in Southern Windsor County to turnover these three local House seats.
But these local Republicans weren’t just setting their sights on the House. They also targeted the Senate through a constant drumbeat of ads and comments. And they have now begun to make inroads with Democrats who believe that party may have gone too far in partnering with Progressives to push a legislative agenda that they believe is not only unnecessary but harmful to everyday working Vermonters.
Besides what many Vermonters see as an impractical environmental policy, the increase in taxes and fees have been difficult to handle.
Yet one of the biggest weakness of the incoming Windsor District senators remains that they all live in the northern half of Windsor, leaving southern Windsor without the Senate representation it needs.
Just look at the House election results. The Republicans won because their viewpoint reflects enough of the constituency to put them over the top, which is at odds with the Democratic senators.
The Senate election results are also revealing. Eleven of the 25 towns in the Windsor District gave from one to three Republicans enough votes to put them in the top three, at least in those towns. Those three Republicans — Andrea Murray, Jonathan Gleason and Jack Williams — all made not insignificant showings in their first time out. Compare it to 2022, when 86,000 votes were cast in Windsor and no Republican hit 8,000 votes. This year, 108,000 votes were cast and all three Republicans earned more than 10,500 votes, with Murray clocking in at just above 12,300.
These votes cast can tell us a lot about the future of politics in southern Windsor, and maybe the entire state.
What the Democratic Senate leadership fails to understand is that southern Windsor doesn’t need a voice and it doesn’t need drop-in representation. It needs eyes and ears.
It needs a senator who lives here, who wakes up every day to the challenges these communities face. Someone who drops into the coffee shop for a cup with the plumber or electrician, who spends time at the elementary schools understanding the challenges of education today and talking to the families at parent-pickup and has lunch at the diner with the art shop owner or buys a second-hand coat or dishes at the Chester-Andover Family Center or Black River Good Neighbor Services.
One town is not like another. Each has its own personality, history, vibrancy and challenges. And each approaches solutions to problems in its own unique way.
This is what many people in the Windsor Senate District voted for.
Filed Under: Andover • Cavendish • Chester • Featured • Grafton • Latest News • Londonderry • Weston • Windham
About the Author: Cynthia Prairie has been a newspaper editor more than 40 years. Cynthia has worked at such publications as the Raleigh Times, the Baltimore News American, the Buffalo Courier Express, the Chicago Sun-Times and the Patuxent Publishing chain of community newspapers in Maryland, and has won numerous state awards for her reporting. As an editor, she has overseen her staffs to win many awards for indepth coverage. She and her family moved to Chester, Vermont in 2004.
Nice article Cynthia! As others have said elsewhere- you nailed it.! Thanks you.
Vermont voters are sick and tired of politicians who “listen” and then go to Montpelier and ignore what the voters want. Ten Democrat/Progressives who Chair the committees, including Allison Clarkson, shut out members of their own party and push the agendas of their lobbyists into law. That hurts working Vermonters. No amount of nice, compassionate speeches is going to overcome the reality on the ground for the locals who can’t find good paying full time work, can’t pay their property taxes or heating bills, and watch their children move out of state because of the economic disaster foisted on our State by a decades long Democrat majority. Republicans and Indpendents have been bullied into a corner for too long and have finally found the courage to stand and speak against the perceived majority to talk sense to power. Great job Chester, Ludlow and Cavendish GOP committees and to all the Independents and Democrats who joined us.