Around New England

Pony-Tail-Wearing, Pot-Friendly Democratic Lieutenant Governor To Take On Republican Governor in Vermont

January 8, 2020

Vermont Lieutenant Governor David Zuckerman plans to run for governor in 2020.

Zuckerman, a Democrat, is expected to announce his campaign on Monday, January 13, according to VT Digger.

Zuckerman was first elected lieutenant governor in 2016 as a fusion candidate of the state’s Democratic Party and the further-left Vermont Progressive Party.

Zuckerman, 48, who grew up in Brookline, Massachusetts, held an event at the Vermont State House in April 2019 celebrating “cannabis art.” He is an organic farmer and wears a ponytail.

The governor and lieutenant governor in the general election are elected separately in Vermont, where the current governor is a Republican, Phil Scott.

Scott first ran in 2016 as a fiscal moderate who was pro-abortion and against gun control. He disappointed gun rights supporters by supporting theretofore-unheard-of gun control restrictions in historically gun-friendly Vermont, citing the mass-shooting at a high school in Parkland, Florida in February 2018 and a subsequent near-miss at a school in Vermont. The flip-flop led one former supporter to call him a “sellout bastard.”

But Scott won re-election to a second two-year term in 2018, over a transgender Democrat.

For the 2020 campaign, Zuckerman is waiting to announce his formal decision to run so that it does not distract from the beginning of the new year’s state legislative session, which is scheduled to begin Thursday, January 9, according to VT Digger.Zuckerman will be the second Democrat to announce a candidacy. Former state education secretary Rebecca Holcombe announced her intent to run for governor back in July 2019.

Odds are, Scott will run for a third two-year term in 2020, according to VT Digger. He has not formally launched a re-election bid, but he sent a letter out to top donors in November in a fund-raising effort.

Zuckerman could pose a threat to Scott. In November 2018, Zuckerman got more votes in his re-election bid (158,530) than Scott did (151,261), according to Ballotpedia.

 


Read More