SHOREHAM — Incumbent Rep. Terry Norris, I-Shoreham, defeated Democratic challenger Barbara Wilson of Shoreham to retain his seat in the Addison-Rutland-1 House district on Tuesday.
Norris had been appointed to the seat by Gov. Phil Scott in February 2017 to replace Rep. Alyson Eastman, I-Orwell, who had been tapped by Scott to serve as deputy secretary of agriculture.
This was Norris’s first election.
“I’ve never actually run for office, so it was kind of a new experience for me,” Norris said Wednesday morning as he collected his campaign signs. “I wasn’t really sure how things were going to go. I thought I represented our towns fairly well in the last session and was hoping that people agreed.”
They did. Norris carried all four towns in the district, garnering 1,009 total votes, roughly 58 percent.
Norris was happy with the results, he said.
Wilson, despite strong state and county Democratic Party support, fell short with with 735 votes, about 42 percent.
“I believe I ran a very good campaign and more importantly I met so many wonderful folks as I went door to door in each of the towns in my district,” she said. “I will be forever grateful for the insights they shared with me and the day-to-day struggles that they are facing.”
Norris won Benson 222–187, Orwell 381–223, Shoreham 306–258 and Whiting 100–67.
A native Vermonter who co-owned a 1,250-acre dairy farm in Shoreham for nearly four decades, he serves on the House Committee on Agriculture and Forestry and hopes to continue that work in the next legislative session.
“I think we accomplished a fair number of good things for the rural towns of Vermont (in the last session). Hopefully I can continue in that direction. With my 37 years of milking cows I think I understand kind of what farmers are going through right now.”
Reach Christopher Ross at [email protected].