question about Vermont politics

[steve2470]

I could have posted this in the VT state forum but it seems to be very slow.

Why is it that a state like VT can elect a socialist Senator and states like MA and CA and OR cannot ? Is it because VT is more homogeneous with its population ? I think Bernie Sanders is great and we need more Senators like him. Thanks for your time.

[dsc]

1. I don't live in any of the states but my take is that the small size of VT is a big reason

Sanders had the following trajectory he was mayor of Burlington (as a Socialist) for 8 years. Burlington is Vermont's largest city. Then he was in the US House (mostly as a Socialist at the end as an Independent) for 16 years. He represented the entire state. Then he ran for US Senate and won that. Only one statewide race did he have a Democratic opponent (his first House race). This helped him for several reasons. One, there are 435 House races and therefore any one House race tends not to attract insane amounts of money. This was even more true in 1990 than it is now. Thus he was able to win his statewide race without spending insane amounts of money. Once he had his statewide presence and his proven track record of collaberating with Democrats, he was able to run for Senate with no Democratic opposition and the GOP had its hands full with seats they had a shot at winning. In the case of California, a House member is one of 53, not one of one. So even if a socialist gets elected to one seat he will likely be unknown outside of his region of CA. CA also has their new system where the top two go to run off so Sanders could win a three way race like he did for his first House race. I could see where maybe a mayor of Portland could parlay that to governor and then maybe to senator but it would be a bigger lift than Burlington to Vermont.

[steve2470]

2. thanks for the info ! nt

[Agschmid]

3. Eh.

I don't feel like its because the population is homogenous, the minute you leave the major metro areas (I use that term loosely) then the state is very red. It's for to do with population distribution, highly educated population, and the whole town meeting aspect (strong community).

For a long time Vermont had a republic led state government while electing very liberal federal representatives.

[steve2470]

4. yea I admit, homogeneous was not the correct word nt

[Agschmid]

5. Haha no worries...

Might have to do with the homosexual population! Haha I miss my old state!

[steve2470]

6. one of my friends is from VT

She's confirmed for me that, yes, indeed, the more rural population tends to be very red.

[cali]

8. utter nonsense.

I live here. I've been involved with local politics. I know.

[Agschmid]

10. I also lived there and was involved...

With politics throughout the state. Volunteered for Hilary as well as Obama and found it to be quite true. There are bastions of liberalists such as Middlebury, Bennington, etc. but the great northeast kingdom is quite red. And although VT has very liberal senators look at Leahy's gun stance it is a big tell. UVM has a pretty active college republican group as well, at least when I was there? And what of Jim Douglas? He was a republican and was governor for some time (although I realize in almost any state he'd be a centering democrat)?

[cali]

16. look, I've lived in the Kingdom for 30 years.

It is not red. It's not even purple, honey. Do you know who our state reps are? How about our state senators? They're largely liberal dems. the Kingdom voted for Obama in 2008 and 2012. It reliably votes for Sanders and has for 20 years.

So an area that votes for liberal dems year in and year out is quite red? Sorry, you don't know much about the Kingdom or Vermont if you think most of the state is red.

[steve2470]

15. ok I stand corrected my bad nt

[cali]

7. um, wrong. I live in the Kingdom, the most rural area of Vermont

We vote for liberal dems and progressives year after year.

There is not a single red county in Vermont. In both 2008 and 2012 Obama won every county.

[Agschmid]

11. What of your local representatives?

Are they all liberal? I would think the OP is asking more about the mix which allows VT to elect a socialist?

[cali]

17. Vermont has a legislature that is overwhelmingly dem and

liberal. Veto proof majority in both houses. My local rep is a dem and a liberal. My local Senators are as well.

[Agschmid]

18. Did they finish the windfarm in the kingdom yet?

[cali]

19. The Lowell Mountain project? Yes.

There are other smaller projects.

[Agschmid]

20. I know Mary Powell pushed that hard.

I am glad it got done! I am sorry that our personal experiences with the state of Vermont do not align. I just always had so many problems with homophobia and racism while I was there it hard for me to see it as a liberal utopia even though I know it's far and above many other states (run on sentence!).

[cali]

21. How long ago was that?

and I wish I could agree about the Lowell Mountain wind farm, but I think it was a lousy site choice.

[cali]

9. Smallness of scale, retail politics, a viable third party

least religious state in the country, a liberal tradition over the last 40 years.

[Agschmid]

12. That's very true I think scale is important! n/t

[Agschmid]

13. Here a few more tidbits of information I found using "the Google"!

538 Blog entry on VT from this year, (an interview with my political science professor, shout out to Professor Nelson!)...

Vermont is a quirky state, politically speaking. It was President Obama’s second-best state in 2008, behind only his home-state of Hawaii. But Vermont is also the most rural state and the second whitest, normally strong predictors of Republican leanings.

Moreover, Vermont was once among the most reliably Republican states. It favored the G.O.P. presidential candidate in every election from 1856 to 1960, the longest one-party streak of any state, Mr. Nelson said. Vermont elected all Republican governors from 1854 to 1963.

And a few charts which show voting history, trends. The first one shows that in 2008 VT while electing Obama also elected a republican governor...



Then these two charts show voting history over time (the solid blue voting is a somewhat recent trend)...



And over the longer term...

[Mopar151]

14. Everybody knows everybody

So, when one of the town cranks declares themselves "Regional Facilitator of the Atlantic Tea Party", Vermonters , and ask each other" What's he on about now?"