Primary Outlook: Women Candidates in Vermont

Kelly Dittmar

Gender Watch 2018From March to December 2018, the Barbara Lee Family Foundation (BLFF) and the Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP) partnered to offer Gender Watch 2018, which tracked, analyzed, and illuminated gender dynamics in the 2018 midterm elections. With the help of expert scholars and practitioners, Gender Watch 2018 furthered public understanding of how gender influences candidate strategy, voter engagement and expectations, media coverage, and electoral outcomes in campaigns. The blog below was written for Gender Watch 2018, as part of our collective effort to raise questions, suggest answers, and complicate popular discussions about gender’s role U.S. elections.

 

Ahead of the Vermont primary election on August 14, 2018, we outline the numbers and proportions of women who have filed as candidates for congressional and statewide office. The data below also provide points of historical comparison to give context to today’s presence and potential success of women candidates.

All data are provided from the Center for American Women and Politics, Eagleton Institute of Politics, Rutgers University. For a full list of the women candidates in Vermont primary races for congressional and statewide offices, see CAWP’s Election Watch page.

CONGRESS

Current: 0 of 3 members of the Vermont congressional delegation

* Vermont is the only state that has never sent a woman to either the Senate or the House.

Filed: 2 (1D, 1R)
Percent of all Filed Congressional Candidates (D/R):  18.2% (2 of 11)

SENATE

Current: 0 of 2 senators

Filed: 1 (1D)

  • Folasade Adeluola is challenging incumbent Senator Bernie Sanders for the Democratic nomination. Sanders is also seeking the Independent nomination. Adeluola identifies as Black.

Percent of all Filed Senate Candidates (D/R): 16.7% (1 of 6)
Percent of all Filed Democratic Senate Candidates:  50% (1 of 2)
Percent of all Filed Republican Senate Candidates: 0% (0 of 4)

HOUSE

Current: 0 of 1 representatives

Filed:  1 (1R)

  • Anya Tynio is seeking the Republican nomination to challenge Democratic incumbent Peter Welch in November.

Districts with Women Candidates:  1 of 1
Percent of all Filed House Candidates (D/R):  20% (1 of 5)
Percent of all Filed Democratic House Candidates:  0% (0 of 3)
Percent of all Filed Republican House Candidates: 50% (1 of 2)

Recent history: Tynio is the only woman to run for the U.S. House from Vermont in the past decade.

GOVERNOR

Current: 0
One woman has served as governor of Vermont: Madeleine Kunin (D, 1985-1991).

Filed:  2 (2D)

  • Democrats Christine Hallquist and Brenda Siegel are seeking their party’s nomination to challenge incumbent Republican Governor Phil Scott. If nominated, Hallquist would be the first openly transgender candidate for governor.

Percent of all Filed Gubernatorial Candidates (D/R):  33.3% (2 of 6)
Percent of all Filed Democratic House Candidates:  50% (2 of 4)
Percent of all Filed Republican House Candidates: 0% (0 of 2)

OTHER STATEWIDE ELECTED EXECUTIVE OFFICES

Current: 1 (1D)

  • State Treasurer Beth Pearce (D) is currently the only woman among Vermont’s 6 statewide elected executive officeholders. She is running for re-election this year.

Filed:  1 (1D)

  • Incumbent State Treasurer Beth Pearce (D) is running for re-election, the only woman running for statewide executive office other than governor in Vermont this year. She is unopposed in the Democratic primary.
  • There are no women candidates for Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, State Auditor, or Secretary of State.

Percent of all Filed Candidates for Statewide Elected Executive Offices (other than governor) (D/R):  6.3% (1 of 16)
Percent of all Filed Democratic Candidates for Statewide Elected Executive Offices (other than governor): 11.1% (1 of 9)
Percent of all Filed Republican Candidates for Statewide Elected Executive Offices (other than governor): 0% (0 of 7)

Kelly Dittmar headshot

Kelly Dittmar

Kelly Dittmar is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Rutgers–Camden and Director of Research and Scholar at the Center for American Women and Politics at the Eagleton Institute of Politics. She is the co-author of A Seat at the Table: Congresswomen’s Perspectives on Why Their Representation Matters (Oxford University Press, 2018) (with Kira Sanbonmatsu and Susan J. Carroll) and author of Navigating Gendered Terrain: Stereotypes and Strategy in Political Campaigns (Temple University Press, 2015).

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