ADDISON COUNTY — Incumbents won in most of the Statehouse races in Addison County on Tuesday.
The local delegation will only see two new faces when it returns to Montpelier in January. Robin Scheu won one of the two Addison-1 House seats; she is taking the place of long-time state Rep. Betty Nuovo, who chose not to run for re-election. The other newby is Peter Conlon, who won the Addison-2 House seat that Rep. Willem Jewett did not seek re-election to.
Despite some spirited races, it looks like the rest of the Addison County lawmakers will already know their way to Golden Dome in the state capital. Incumbent Democratic state Senators Claire Ayer of Addison and Christopher Bray of New Haven staved off challenges from Republicans Peter Briggs of Addison and Lynn Dike of Bristol.
In the Addison-3 district, which encompasses Vergennes, Ferrisburgh, Panton, Addison and Waltham, Rep. Diane Lanphere (D-Vergennes) and Rep. Warren Van Wyck (R-Ferrisburgh) both won re-election vs. two first-time candidates, Republican Monique Thurston of Ferrisburgh and Democrat Fritz Langrock of Ferrisburgh. Addison-3 is a two-seat district. The vote tallies were:
Lanpher, 2,104; Van Wyck, 1,984; Langrock, 1,829; and Thurston, 1,662.
Four candidates in Addison-4 also were vying for two seats. Newcomer Mari Cordes of Lincoln and second-time candidate Valerie Mullin of Monkton run unsuccessfully against veteran Rep. David Sharpe (D-Bristol) and top vote-getter Fred Baser (R-Bristol). In the district that includes Bristol, Monkton, Lincoln and Starksboro, the final tally was:
Baser, 2,530; Sharpe, 2,386; Mullin 1,777; and Cordes, 1,758.
A hard-fought battle for the one seat in the Addison-5 district — New Haven, Weybridge and Bridport — was waged by Republican Rep. Harvey Smith and Democrat Taborri Bruhl, both New Haven residents. Smith came away with 1,196 votes and Bruhl with 1,062. Smith returns to Montpelier.
A local incumbent who faced no opposition this time was Alyson Eastman of Orwell. She swept to an uncontested victory in the Addison-Rutland House district that includes her hometown plus Shoreham, Whiting and Benson.
Which leaves one more local incumbent winner on Election Day — Rep. Amy Sheldon. The Democrat/Progressive in Middlebury was the top vote-getter in the three-way race for two seats. It was Sheldon, 2,210; Scheu, a Democrat, 1,937; and Progressive Jill Charbonneau, 1,376.