[B]URLINGTON — At a few minutes before 9:30 p.m., Vermont’s first new attorney general in two decades took the stage at the Democrats’ party to chants of “TJ, TJ.”
TJ Donovan told supporters that his Republican challenger Deborah Bucknam called him minutes earlier to concede the race.
Polls showed Donovan with a substantial lead throughout the evening. As of 10:08 p.m., with 157 of 275 districts reporting, Donovan had 62 percent of the vote, to Bucknam’s 29 percent.
In his victory speech at the Hilton Hotel in Burlington, Donovan invoked President Calvin Coolidge’s description of Vermont as “a brave little state.”
“Let us demonstrate our courage by showing compassion and understanding to all Vermonters, all Vermonters who get up every day, work hard, play by the rules,” Donovan said. “These are the folks government should work for.”
Donovan iterated themes of his decade-long tenure as Chittenden County’s top cop, where he implemented several programs that have become models for statewide justice reform efforts, and said employment is key to public safety.
The Chittenden County state’s attorney also called for standing up for and showing compassion to people struggling with issues related to drug addiction, poverty and mental illness.
“Quite simply put, we need to integrate our public health system with our public safety system and create treatment on demand and end the opiate epidemic in this state,” Donovan said.
This was Donovan’s second bid for the attorney general race. He nearly unseated incumbent Democrat Bill Sorrell in a heated 2012 primary race, but lost by a few hundred votes.
A few miles away, at the Republican Party’s election night gathering, Bucknam said she has no regrets.
“I’m disappointed in the results, but we had a great campaign,” Bucknam said. “We had great volunteers, we had a great staff, and we met a lot of wonderful people.”
She plans to go back to her private practice work, which she said has been backing up. Like Donovan, she was complimentary of her adversary.
“I think he’ll make a fine attorney general,” Bucknam said.
Donovan, the favorite to win throughout the 2016 race, far outraised and outspent his political opponent.
The Democrat was boosted by hefty donations from within Vermont’s borders and beyond. As of the most recent campaign finance filing deadline last week, Donovan had raised a total of more than $420,000 for his campaign, and spent more than $268,786.
Erin Mansfield contributed to this report.
