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Vermont Governor Phil Scott To Face Four Republican Primary Challengers

July 4, 2020

Although Republican Phil Scott is the sitting governor of Vermont, he will have a primary challenge this upcoming August. Several, in fact.

It’s a five-way race in the Vermont Republican gubernatorial primary this year, as WCAX-TV Channel 3 in Burlington, Vermont reports. The primary is scheduled for Tuesday, August 11.

GOP challengers include tax attorney John Klar, perennial candidate Emily Payton, Vietnam War veteran Bernard Peters, and Doug Cavett, who initially ran as both a Democrat and Republican, according to VTWaterCooler.com. However, Cavett is running as only a Republican now.

With a 65 percent approval rating and a 22 percent disapproval rating, according to a Morning Consult poll, Scott is the fourth most popular governor in the country.

Yet Scott has infuriated conservatives in Vermont. He supports legal abortion. He also flip flopped on gun control in early 2018, after running as a supporter of gun rights in 2016. Vermont has traditionally been one of the most gun-friendly states in the country, but in the early spring of 2018, with the governor’s support, the state legislature approved unprecedented gun control measures.

Scott is one of the most anti-Trump Republican officials in the country. He endorsed Bill Weld in the Republican presidential primary.


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