Chase loses in state Dem Senate race as White, Major and Burrows head to the General Election Weyant takes Dem primary for Windsor Sheriff as Lake stumbles

By Shawn Cunningham
© 2026 Telegraph Publishing LLC

While the August primaries in Vermont are often characterized by uncontested races and low turnout and summer vacations take their own toll, every few cycles something happens to pique voters’ interest and draw them to their polling places.

Tuesday’s most contested races locally have been county-wide, with three Democrats vying for the Windsor Sheriff’s office that’s being vacated by Ryan Palmer, the one-term sheriff who is also facing a criminal court date. Also drawing attention is the Windsor District Senate race, where longtime Sen. Alison Clarkson is retiring, which triggered a six-way Democratic race for three state Senate seats. NOTE: All vote tallies are considered unofficial until verified by the state.

Windsor County Sheriff

Democratic candidate Joshua Lake, 30, of Chester, who has served two years as a police officer in Bellows Falls, has been the subject of controversy over his honesty and was just this week placed on administrative leave from that department.

While the Democratic sheriff’s fight in southern Windsor towns was a horse race between Lake and Chris Norton, who works in the Windsor Sheriff’s office, neither could overcome the juggernaut that Claude Weyant drove through the central and northern county. Weyant as well works for the Windsor County Sheriff’s office.

Nevertheless Lake received 167 votes in Chester, while Norton and Weyant polled 113 and 101 respectively. The results in Weston were similar with Lake taking 56 votes; Weyant getting 44 and Norton bringing up the rear with 20. In Andover, Weyant prevailed with 30 votes followed by Norton with 25 and Lake with 18. Norton took Cavendish with 83 votes to Weyant’s 36 and Lake’s 19.

But it was a big night for Weyant, a Windsor resident, who at the end of the night with all 24 Windsor towns reporting, tallied 3,663 votes to Norton’s 1,726 and Lake’s 1,563. Weyant will face Republican Richard King of Springfield, who ran unopposed, in the November General Election.

Windsor District Senate race

It looks like the southern part of the Windsor Senate district might continue without a home-based representative — at least a Democratic one — as Chester resident and former state Rep. Heather Chase went down to defeat in a tug of war with current Rep. Elizabeth Burrows of West Windsor for the third of three slots on the Democratic side.

Still,  three southern Windsor Republicans all ran unopposed and will face the Democrats in the General. They are Andrea Murray and Jack Williams, both of Weathersfield, and Jonathan Gleason of Ludlow.

At the end of the night, with all 25 towns reporting, incumbent Sen. Becca White blew past all comers with 6,267 votes to fellow incumbent Sen. Joe Major’s 4,607. Both are from Hartford. Burrows brought in 3,843; Chase 3,700; Brickner 3,547; and Dube 1,414.

Chase certainly had the home team advantage with the towns in southern Windsor, taking the lion’s share of the votes in those towns. In Chester, Chase got 330 votes compared with 217 for White and 153 for Burrows. Major took 145 votes while newcomer Ben Brickner of Pomfret garnered 111. Chris Dube of Hartford did not figure much in any of the races.

While Brickner put up a strong fight for that third seat, his numbers began to flag as the evening wore on.

The order of candidates in Chester was repeated in Cavendish with Chase taking 103 votes to White’s 73 and Burrows’ 72. Major added 45 to his total and Brickner took 39. And it repeated in Andover with Chase getting 64 votes to White’s 45 and Burrows’ 34. Major picked up 31 votes while Brickner took 27.

While Chase and White led the pack in Weston with 114 and 96 votes respectively, it was Major and Burrows who swapped positions with 60 and 53 respectively.

There were no contested races for the Democratic and Republican primaries for state representative for the Windsor-Windham District. Come November, incumbent Republican Rep. Tom Charlton of Chester will face the Democratic candidate, fellow Chester resident William Hoser.

The General Election will be held on Tuesday Nov. 3.

Cynthia Prairie contributed to this article.