ADDISON COUNTY — Barring write-in campaigns before the state’s Aug. 28 primary election, Addison County will see no primary contests for seats in the Vermont House of Representatives and only three contested House elections in November.
Democratic incumbents in the Addison-1 Middlebury district — Betty Nuovo and Paul Ralston — and the Addison-4 district representing Bristol, Lincoln, Monkton and Starksboro — Dave Sharpe and Mike Fisher — will run unopposed.
Nuovo will be up for her 14th House term, Ralston will be seeking re-election after his first term, Fisher has been in office since 2001, and Sharpe has served since 2002.
Also learning he will get a free pass after this past Thursday’s filing deadline was three-term Shoreham independent Rep. Will Stevens. Stevens represents the Addison-Rutland-1 district of Shoreham, Whiting, Orwell and Benson.
Four incumbents will face challenges, two of them in the Addison-3 district of Addison, Ferrisburgh, Panton, Vergennes and Waltham. That district had been in the past been a two-seat Republican stronghold, but this November will see two Democrats and one Republican running for its two seats.
Rep. Greg Clark, R-Vergennes, a House veteran since 2003, and Rep. Diane Lanpher, D-Vergennes, a two-term incumbent, will be joined on the ballot in November by Ferrisburgh Democrat Arabella Holzapfel, an employee of the Middlebury College library.
New Haven Republican incumbent Rep. Harvey Smith also has competition in the Addison-5 House district of New Haven, Weybridge and Bridport. Smith was returned to the House in 2010 after a four-year absence; he served Addison-5 from 1999 to 2006.
Former Mount Abraham Union High School math teacher and New Haven resident Ed McGuire, a Democrat, filed a petition to face Smith in November.
In Addison-2, Ripton Democrat Willem Jewett, the House Majority Whip, will be seeking a sixth consecutive term representing Ripton, Hancock, Salisbury, Cornwall, Goshen and Leicester. Jewett will face opposition from Leicester Republican Tim Ryan.
In nearby Brandon, incumbent Joe Acinapura this spring said he would not seek re-election. Also, in the course of statewide redistricting, the district was expanded to include Brandon, Pittsford and Sudbury represented in the House by two seats.
Republican Rep. Butch Shaw, who represents Sudbury, will run for one of those two seats. He will be joined in the race by two Brandon residents: Republican Seth Hopkins and Democrat Steve Carr.
Details on and interviews with the candidates in contested county races will be published in future editions of the Independent.