WASHINGTON (AP) — Vermont Democrats will try on Tuesday to do something they’ve been unable to do in five previous attempts: nominate a gubernatorial candidate who can beat Republican Gov. Phil Scott.
Voters will also decide contested Democratic primaries for lieutenant governor and state auditor and choose a Republican nominee to challenge Democratic U.S. Rep. Becca Balint in November.
Scott is one of only two Republican governors to serve a state that then-Vice President Kamala Harris carried in the 2024 election. But toppling him this fall will be no easy feat. He received 73% of the vote in his 2024 reelection bid, improving upon the 69% he won in 2022.
He’s also been a rare Republican critic of President Donald Trump. Scott not only endorsed former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley for president in the 2024 primaries, but he also says he voted for Harris over Trump in 2024 and for Joe Biden in 2020. He is unopposed for the Republican nomination.
Two Democrats are running to challenge Scott: economist Amanda Janoo and former child advocacy organization CEO Aly Richards, who boasts endorsements from former Democratic Govs. Howard Dean and Madeleine Kunin. Richards has raised about $453,000 for her campaign, compared to about $308,000 for Janoo. Richards also had about double Janoo’s cash reserves as of the end of July.
In Vermont, the governor, lieutenant governor and other state constitutional officers serve two-year terms. If Scott is reelected and completes another term, he’ll surpass Dean as Vermont’s longest serving governor since it became a state.
All 30 state Senate seats and all 150 state House seats are up in 2026. Democratic state lawmakers suffered significant losses in the 2024 general election, losing more than two dozen seats across both chambers, along with their supermajorities. This year could prove to be another difficult one for the party but for different reasons: Democratic incumbents in five state Senate districts and 11 state House districts face primary challengers. Republican incumbents face challengers in only one state Senate district.
For state legislative primaries, the number of winners in each contest varies by district. With multiple winners in many seats and relatively low turnout for down-ballot primaries, especially on the Republican side, determining the winners could come down to a relatively small number of votes.
Here are some of the key facts about the election and data points the AP Decision Team will monitor as the votes are tallied:
Polls close at 7 p.m. ET.
The Associated Press will provide vote results and declare winners in contested primaries for U.S. House, governor, lieutenant governor, auditor, state Senate and state House.
Any registered voter may participate in any party’s primary. Vermont does not register voters by party.
As of July, there were about 501,000 registered voters in Vermont.
About 23,000 Republican primary voters and about 33,000 Democratic primary voters cast ballots in the 2024 gubernatorial primaries.
About 30% of the vote in the 2024 state primary was cast by mail. In the presidential primaries that year, about 24% of Democratic primary voters and about 13% of Republican primary voters cast mail ballots.
As of Friday, about 17,000 ballots had already been cast in Tuesday’s election.
Vermont runs elections at the town and city level. There are 247 separate jurisdictions administering local elections, and they vary in terms of how and when they release results. In many of the larger jurisdictions, the bulk of results from both mail voting and in-person Election Day voting are released together in their first vote updates.
In the 2024 state primary, the AP first reported results at 7:18 p.m. ET, or 18 minutes after polls closed. The last vote update of the night was at 11:45 p.m. ET with about 87% of total votes counted.
The AP does not make projections and will declare a winner only when it’s determined there is no scenario that would allow a trailing candidate to close the gap. If a race has not been called, the AP will continue to cover any newsworthy developments, such as candidate concessions or declarations of victory. In doing so, the AP will make clear that it has not yet declared a winner and explain why.
A candidate may request a recount if the vote margin falls below a certain threshold. In federal, statewide and state Senate elections, a recount may be requested if the vote margin between the winning and losing candidate is 2% or less of the total votes cast, divided by the number of persons to be elected for that position. For state House and local races, the required margin is 5% or less of the total votes cast, divided by the number of persons to be elected. The AP may declare a winner in a race that is subject to a recount if it can determine the lead is too large for a recount or legal challenge to change the outcome.
As of Tuesday, there will be 84 days until the 2026 midterm elections.
The AP’s Matthew Junkroski contributed to this report.
Follow the AP’s coverage of the 2026 election at https://apnews.com/projects/elections-2026/.
FILE - Vermont state legislators gather on the house floor at the Vermont state Capitol, May 8, 2025, in Montpelier, Vt. (AP Photo/Alex Driehaus, File)
FILE - The Vermont state Capitol building is seen, May 8, 2025, in Montpelier, Vt. (AP Photo/Alex Driehaus, File)
President Donald Trump is scheduled to swear in Todd Blanche, his old personal lawyer, as attorney general Monday after the Senate voted to confirm him early Saturday. Blanche’s path toward confirmation exposed deep concerns — from some Republicans as well as Democrats — over installing Trump’s close ally atop a Justice Department that historically prided itself on its independence from the White House.
Progressive candidates for governor in Wisconsin and U.S. Senate in Minnesota are making their final pushes ahead of Tuesday’s election, increasing the pressure on the Democratic establishment. In Wisconsin, democratic socialist Francesca Hong seeks to win a four-way Democratic primary for governor. Minnesota voters will choose between moderate U.S. Rep. Angie Craig and progressive Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan in a Democratic U.S. Senate primary in the aftermath of Trump’s aggressive immigration enforcement surge.
Iran says it will not reopen the Strait of Hormuz until the United States lifts its blockade on the strait, pays compensation for months of war damage, lifts economic sanctions and releases Iran’s frozen assets. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has become the war’s most lasting consequence.
Here’s the latest:
An Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Iran will not reopen the Strait of Hormuz until the United States meets its conditions.
“It is up to the U.S. side to stop and make amends for its illegal and destructive actions,” Esmail Baghaei said Monday, noting the American blockade of Iranian ports.
Iran wants the U.S. to lift its blockade on the Strait, pay compensation for months of war damage, lift economic sanctions and release Iran’s frozen assets. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz — a waterway that normally carries roughly one-fifth of the world’s traded oil supplies — has become the war’s most lasting consequence. The impasse has kept energy prices as a major focus of U.S. politics ahead of November’s midterm elections.
Iran is holding separate talks with Oman over transit through the strait, including potentially a temporary shipping corridor, but has said any actual reopening is contingent on talks with the U.S.
▶ Read more
Democratic socialist Francesca Hong is trying to win a four-way Democratic primary for governor in Wisconsin, where her top opponent has been endorsed by popular Gov. Tony Evers, who isn’t seeking a third term.
Evers got behind Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley on July 18, the same day Crowley reentered the race after dropping out 10 days earlier. Crowley rejoined after the candidate he backed, Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez, ended her candidacy amid a campaign finance scandal.
Evers and more establishment Democrats were hoping to finally coalesce around Crowley in the final days of the chaotic primary that saw two other candidates drop out, most notably former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes on July 29.
Republicans are spending to support a Hong victory, betting she's the better matchup for Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany in November. The Republican Governors Association has spent nearly $3.6 million through its Right Direction Wisconsin PAC on ads contrasting Hong with Trump and playing up her liberal proposals.
▶ Read more
Efforts to resist Trump found their footing in the streets surrounding a drab federal office complex next to the Minneapolis airport. As U.S. immigration agents staged at the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building for a monthslong deportation campaign, protesters with whistles and cellphone cameras assembled to oppose them. Two were shot and killed in the city’s streets before Trump pulled back under pressure.
Months later, those confrontations remain the backdrop to Minnesota’s Democratic primary for U.S. Senate on Tuesday, which features establishment-backed U.S. Rep. Angie Craig and the more progressive Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan. The immigration debate is an added schism in a race that otherwise echoes many of the other left versus center divides that have played out across the United States this year.
▶ Read more
Madison Steigerwald, canvas lead for Michigan United Action, rings a voter's doorbell while canvassing for candidates including Abdul El-Sayed, a progressive candidate in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate in Michigan, Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, listens to a voter during a campaign event at the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe Twin Cities Office in Minneapolis, Saturday, Aug. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Ellen Schmidt)
Abdul El-Sayed, a progressive candidate in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate in Michigan, films a social media video at a pool party for content creators supporting his campaign, Monday, Aug. 3, 2026, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
Darci McConnell, communications director, right, talks to a voter as Madison Steigerwald, canvas lead, left, Kenneth Brooks, canvasser, second from right, watch, while canvassing with Michigan United Action for candidates including Abdul El-Sayed, a progressive candidate in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate in Michigan, Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
FILE - National Guard members gather near a large portrait of President Donald Trump on the Labor Department headquarters before the body of Metropolitan Police Department officer Terry Bennett is driven past the Capitol, Jan. 8, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)
