Check out the website: https://lenspoliticalnotes.com Political Note #268 Roy Cooper Governor of North Carolina, Political Note #306 Mike Cooney for Governor of Montana, Nicole Galloway, Political Note #256 for Governor of Missouri, Ben Solango, Political Note #301 for Governor of West Virginia
081920 Political Note #313 David Zuckerman Vermont Governor 10
2020 General election
This was an ordinary mistake. I write a Note urging support for Rebecca Holcombe for Vermont Governor. At the time, she was the only Democratic candidate. What’s more, she is an educator – a former teacher, former principal, and former Secretary of Education in Vermont. I am partial to educators. But she came in second in the primary to David Zuckerman https://www.zuckermanforvt.com.
I will introduce you to Vermont’s Lt. Governor David Zuckerman, the Democratic nominee for Governor, and urge you to support him. But first, a little context. Despite its rural character, Vermont is like Massachusetts and Maryland politically.
Massachusetts: Democrats control the House 127-32
Democrats control the Senate 36-6
There is a Republican governor
Maryland Democrats control the House 92-49
Democrats control the Senate 32-15
There is a Republican governor
Vermont Democrats control the House 95-43
Democrats control the Senate 22-6-2
There is a Republican governor
Governors are powerful. The governors of Massachusetts, Maryland, and Vermont are all moderate Republicans. They may be what’s left of moderate Republicans in high office in the country. There don’t seem to be any in the US House of Representatives or the Senate.
David Zuckerman is worth your attention. He is flatlander, originally from elsewhere. People who have moved from cities and suburbs to Vermont have transformed Vermont. They brought us Bernie Sanders, among others. Bernie has endorsed David Zuckerman who came from Brookline, Massachusetts to study at the University of Vermont and stayed.
At the University of Vermont, David Zuckerman majored in Environmental Studies. Naturally, he and his wife started an organic farm. Now they have 150 acres (larger than the average farm in Vermont. Annually there is an increase in the number of farms in Vermont that are 50 acres or less. Nationally, there is an increase in the number of farms that are 1000 acres or more.). David Zuckerman and his wife devote 20 acres to vegetables, which are sold locally (Burlington is the big town). They raise about 1000 chickens. They have been prosperous farmers and prosperous business people.
David Zuckerman has also had an interest in community activity and in politics. His community activity has been with the Vermont Farm Bureau. His political activity began not long after he graduated from the University of Vermont. After, an initial failed effort, he was elected to the Vermont House of Representatives in 1996 – the fourth person to be elected to the House as a member of the Vermont Progressive Party (a Democratic Socialist party formed after Bernie Sanders’ successful campaign for mayor of Burlington).
In the House and subsequently in the State Senate to which he was elected in 2012, he was part of successful efforts to allow civil unions and, later, same-sex marriage, to increase the minimum wage, to encourage sustainable agriculture, renewable energy, and more. Vermont is one of the states where the Lt. Governor is elected separately from the Governor. David Zuckerman He was the Vermont Progressive Party nominee for Lt. Governor in 2016 and won the Democratic Party nomination in a primary on his way to being elected.
David Zuckerman has to defeat a popular Republican governor. Phil Scott earns regular guy props by being a champion stock car racer. He earns good government props because he is seen as having handled the Covid-19 crisis effectively. He has been clear about his priorities otherwise – describing himself as fiscally conservative and socially liberal. That can work if the pain of fiscal conservativism is not too great.
Scott has taken a fair number of socially liberal positions that would satisfy his progressive electorate. In addition to being pro-choice and supporting same sex marriage, he opposed Trump’s immigration policies and signed a bill limiting police cooperation with ICE. He has taken steps related to water quality and energy efficiency.
The core of the argument against Scott has been that his principal solution to Vermont’s problems is to oppose new taxes. To attempt to control spending, he vetoed the FY 19 budget twice. To reduce taxes, he has targeted eliminating certain kinds of income to avoid tases – social security, military pensions. He reduced Workers’ Compensation and (we’ll see how this looks in the midst of the current unemployment and the loss of the federal $600 per week) reduced Unemployment Insurance payments.
When Scott has sought to address Vermont’s problems with strategies other than reducing taxes or opposing their increase, his solutions are – odd. He wants to increase Vermont’s population. In seeking that goal, he winds up disagreeing with the academics who conceived of that as a solution. The academic proposal was to encourage reitirees to come to Vermont, particularly retirees who have the resources to spend money in their new home. Scott’s fear of government spending leads him in a different direction. No to retirees, yes to recent college graduates, young people who came to Vermont for college will stay to be part of a. young workforce. People exactly like David Zuckerman.
Scot’s other odd way of reducing spending is to reduce the amount of time the legislature can spend considering Vermont’s problems. He would limit the legislature to a 90 day session. He is also looking into merging some boards and departments..
David Zuckerman has more activist proposals.
- He would legalize, tax, and regulate a cannabis industry which, he believes, would make a substantial dent in Vermont’s revenue problems.
- He would integrate some of Vermont’s human services into the public schools, a consolidation which, he believes, would save a substantial amount of money.
- He would seek outside funding to make Vermont a center of research on Lyme Disease – a problem that has particularly hit home for him because his wife has been affected severely by the disease.
David Zuckerman has a challenge in front of him. A poll in June showed him behind 60-25. But Phil Scott may be throwing him a lifeline? Scott has announced that he is not campaigning and not raising money for his campaign. Critics note that national organizations are more than making up for Scott not raising money for his campaign. Still, my mantra for Joe Biden and the Democrats in 2020 is that complacency kills campaigns. That applies to Republicans, too.
Scott will not retain a 35 point-lead through November. He won in 2018 by 15 points; in 2016 by 8 points. David Zuckerman is a strong candidate. He could have coasted to victory as Lt. Governor. He could make up 8 points in the race for Governor. Can he make up 15 points? That’s his challenge. While Phil Scott is not raising money, David Zuckerman https://www.zuckermanforvt.com is. Help him out a little. A little money goes a long way in Vermont.
There are only 11 Governorships up for election in 2020.
One of them is a toss up –
- Mike Cooney, Political Note #306, won the primary, now he has to win the general election.
One of them leans Democratic.
- Roy Cooper, Political Note #268, in North Carolina is a Lean Democrat. Look up the Note about him.
Two are solidly Democratic – Delaware and Washington where incumbents don’t face much of a challenge
Three are solidly Republican – Indiana, North Dakota, and Utah
Four are Likely Republican –
- New Hampshire – where the Democratic primary has not yet been held.
- Missouri — State Auditor Nicole Galloway, Political Note #256, is moving this race toward becoming a toss up
- Vermont — Popular Lt. Governor David Zuckerman, Political Note #313, is challenging a popular governor.
- West Virginia – Labor lawyer Ben Solango, Political Note #301, is trying to move the state back to electing Democrats with integrity.
