The 2024 Vermont Senate election took place on November 5, 2024, as part of the United States elections. The election coincided with elections for other offices including the U.S. Senate, U.S. House, Governor, and State House. State senators serve two-year terms in the Vermont Senate. Primary elections were held on August 13, 2024.
Vermont voters elected all 30 state senators from 16 districts, with each district electing between one and three senators. Districts that elect more than one senator use plurality block voting; in districts that elect two senators, each voter can select up to two candidates on their ballot, and in districts that elect three senators, voters can select up to three candidates. Under Vermont's electoral fusion system, candidates can receive the nomination of more than one party, with all their nominations being listed on the ballot.
Prior to the election, the DemocratâÂÂProgressive coalition held a 23-seat supermajority in the senate. In order to gain control of the chamber, Republicans either needed to flip nine seats in the senate, or flip eight seats and the office of lieutenant governor, which presides over the senate and acts as the tiebreaking vote. However, they only needed to flip four seats to end their opponents' supermajority. Ultimately, Republicans, aided by popular GOP governor Phil Scott campaigning for downballot Republican candidates harder than he had in previous years, flipped six seats in the state senate, thus successfully breaking the Democrats' supermajority, and requiring Republican support to overturn Phil ScottâÂÂs vetoes. The decline in Democratic showing was notable as they received less votes collectively in 2024, than the 2022 midterms.
Four incumbents did not seek re-election.
The incumbents are Democrats Christopher Bray and Ruth Hardy, who won with 33.8% and 33.3% of the vote in 2022, respectively (67.1% combined).
Elder largely avoided criticizing the two incumbents directly, instead saying he decided to run for Senate due to his conflicts with House leadership; Elder alleged that they "made it clear the doors were shut for me to participate." The race was competitive, with all three candidates reporting roughly equal fundraising.
The incumbents are Democrats Brian Campion and Dick Sears, who won with only write-in opposition in 2022. Sears filed to run for re-election, while Campion announced he would retire. However, Sears died in June 2024, shortly after the filing deadline.
Despite his death, Sears remained on the ballot in the August Democratic primary; if he won, a convention of delegates from towns in the district would have met to choose a replacement nominee. Several write-in candidates entered the race. One candidate, Manchester selectman Jonathan West, urged Democrats in the district to vote for Sears, hoping to clinch the nomination at a convention.
The incumbent is Democrat Jane Kitchel, who won with 63.4% of the vote in 2022. Kitchel is not running for re-election.
The incumbents are Democrats Philip Baruth and Martine Gulick and Progressive Tanya Vyhovsky, who won with 31.5%, 29.0%, and 25.7% of the vote in 2022, respectively (86.2% combined), against an independent candidate. All three incumbents are running for re-election.
Ledbetter outlined few policy differences between himself and the district's three incumbents, instead campaigning on his experience as a journalist. However, VTDigger described Ledbetter as a more centrist alternative to the incumbents, and he criticized Vyhovsky for voting against a bill to increase penalties for retail theft. The three incumbents ran together as a slate. Vyhovsky and Gulick criticized Ledbetter for accepting large contributions from Republicans, landlords, and business interests, and for promising to compromise with Republican governor Phil Scott, which Gulick argued could "mean that you have to make compromises on your values."
Ledbetter had significant name recognition and outraised all three incumbents by a wide margin, creating a competitive race. VTDigger wrote that Gulick was "generally considered the most vulnerable of the three incumbents," owing to her narrow victory in the 2022 Democratic primary for this district.
The incumbent is Democrat Irene Wrenner, who won with 51.3% of the vote in 2022.
The incumbents are Democrats Kesha Ram Hinsdale, Thomas Chittenden and Ginny Lyons, who won with 32.1%, 26.6%, and 25.1% of the vote in 2022, respectively (83.8% combined).
The incumbent is Republican Russ Ingalls, who won with only write-in opposition in 2022.
The incumbents are Republicans Randy Brock and Robert Norris, who won with 33.1% and 29.6% of the vote in 2022, respectively (62.7% combined).
The incumbent was Democrat Richard Mazza, who won with 73.0% of the vote in 2022. Mazza resigned on April 8, 2024, due to health issues; he later died on May 28. Governor Phil Scott appointed Democrat Andy Julow, a nonprofit executive and former chair of the Champlain Valley School District Board, to Mazza's vacant seat.
The incumbent is Republican Richard Westman, who won against only write-in opposition in 2022.
The incumbent is Democrat Mark MacDonald, who won with 55.4% of the vote in 2022.
The incumbent is Democrat Robert Starr, who won with 58.1% of the vote in 2022. Starr is not running for re-election.
The incumbents are Republicans Brian Collamore, Terry Williams, and Dave Weeks, who won with 21.0%, 17.3%, and 16.3% of the vote in 2022, respectively (54.6% combined).
The incumbents are Democrats Ann Cummings, Anne Watson, and Andrew Perchlik, who won with 26.2%, 22.9%, and 21.1% of the vote in 2022, respectively (70.2% combined).
Rob Roper received enough write-in votes to win the Republican nomination, but dropped out of the race after the primary. Republican Party officials in Washington County were then able to choose a replacement nominee.
The incumbents are Democrats Wendy Harrison and Nader Hashim, who won with 34.2% and 31.2% of the vote in 2022, respectively (65.6% combined).
The incumbents are Democrats Alison Clarkson, Rebecca White, and Richard McCormack, who won with 23.4%, 22.9%, and 22.7% of the vote in 2022, respectively (69.0% combined). McCormack is not running for re-election.