Analysis: Southern Windsor and the emerging Republican Party

By Cynthia Prairie
©2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC

While there was never any doubt that incumbent Democratic Sens. Alison Clarkson and Becca White and anointed Democratic candidate Joe Major would win election for the three seats for the Windsor District, the nascent Chester Republican Committee has made a formidable premier foray into politics while the Ludlow and Cavendish Republicans have made their presence known to a much wider audience.

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.