Note: This story was updated at 1:55 p.m. on Nov. 4 to include independent Chittenden County Senate candidate Louis Meyers, whose candidacy was omitted from the initial story.
[C]hittenden County Republicans don’t usually have much to be excited about — all six of the senators currently representing the county are Democrats, and it’s the most liberal county in the state.
But Burlington Republican Alex Farrell is generating significant buzz in his spirited campaign to unseat one of the six Democrats and break into the six-person senate delegation.
Farrell, 26, is running on a fiscal responsibility platform that closely resembles that of the state’s most prominent Republican, Gov. Phil Scott. In the Senate, Farrell said he’d be focused on fueling economic growth, which would encourage other young Vermonters to stay in state.
He describes himself as socially liberal — especially compared to most Republicans.
“I think the beauty of Vermont is a lot of times when it comes to the social stuff, we’re kind of all on the same page,” he said. “My laser focus is on fiscal opportunity.”
Despite the energy and focus, Farrell’s path to victory in the progressive county appears narrow.
Liberals are energized nationwide, and the six Democratic incumbents who represent the county include some of the most influential members of the senate, having taken the lead on everything from gun reform to raising the minimum wage, funding clean water initiatives and expanding healthcare.
Senate President Tim Ashe, longtime senator Ginny Lyons, Michael Sirotkin, Debbie Ingram, Phil Baruth and Chris Pearson represented the county in Montpelier last session and are all running for re-election.
“Chittenden County residents of all backgrounds and interests are well-served by this widespread group of Senators,” the six senators said in announcing their candidacies as a united slate.
The race also features an independent who is running an active campaign. Louis Meyers is a physician at Rutland Regional Medical Center who said he is “deeply concerned” about the direction the state is heading on health care and wants to bring a physician’s voice to the senate’s discussion of the issue.
He said the state’s all payer plan will bloat administrative costs at the University of Vermont Medical Center, and that he believes the state’s independent practices and community hospitals should get more support.
Meyers largely self-funded his campaign and has spent just over $11,000 during his campaign, according to records from the Secretary of States’ office.
Born and raised in Shelburne, Farrell said his family’s roots in the Green Mountain state stretch back centuries. He was the captain of the baseball team at Champlain Valley Union High School, and graduated UVM with a degree in finance.
Farrell said he watched many bright classmates leave the state, headed to places where opportunity was more abundant.
“I studied finance, and my professors told us to leave,” he said. “They said, ‘If you’re going to make it in this business, get out of Vermont,’.”
But Farrell said he saw “a million reasons” to stay in the state — great schools, the state’s natural beauty, great food — and now he lives in Burlington and works in Montpelier as a data analyst for Union Mutual of Vermont.
He said he wants Burlington to become the most desirable place for start-ups in the northeast, and thinks funding programs like the Vermont Center for Emerging Technologies, BTV Ignite and other kickstarter programs is a good start.
However, he said the state Legislature should introduce more pro-growth policies to entice business activity in the state. He said he was against the paid family leave bill that was passed the Legislature but vetoed by Scott. The paid family leave bill carved out an exception for businesses with less than 50 people, which Farrell said would discourage business growth.
“What you’re telling these companies who have 50 or less employees is ‘Stop growing, don’t hire any more people, we want you to stay small,” he said. “I would really, really bet that most of those folks who have 50 or less employees want to grow and probably would love to do it here in Vermont, but we’ve been implementing a lot of policies that tell them no.”
Farrell said the permitting process, both in Act 250 and in municipalities, should be more efficient and predictable. The laws should be changed to streamline projects that create jobs or build housing through the process.
“The biggest gripes that I hear from developers who say they love to build more housing but won’t go forward with the project is that Act 250 is so unpredictable,” he said.
President Donald Trump’s shadow looms large over Republican candidates across the country, and particularly in blue states like Vermont, where he is deeply unpopular.
Pearson, a Progressive/Democrat, said he has been knocking on doors across Chittenden County and is seeing the effects of Trump’s administration and extreme polarization in Washington.
“I have people when I come to there door, say, ‘Are you a Republican? No? Okay, I’ll talk to you,’” Pearson said. “That I’ve never had before, that’s really different.”
Rep. Kurt Wright, R-Burlington, who is advising Farrell’s campaign, said that the Republicans who are running in Chittenden County are stressing that the election is about Vermont, not Washington.
Wright, president of Burlington’s city council and the city’s only Republican in the Legislature, is locked into his own contested House race, and is campaigning as a centrist who makes decisions based on the issues, not his political affiliation. Farrell is making a similar pitch.
They are following in the footsteps of former Senator Diane Snelling, who knows a thing or two about winning as a Republican in Chittenden County. Snelling represented Chittenden County in the Senate from 2002 to 2016.
She said she came to think of herself as nonpartisan, choosing to be a Republican because both of her parents — former Gov. Richard Snelling and former Lt. Gov. Barbara Snelling — were Republicans.
The path to victory for Republicans runs through the county’s rural towns, like Hinesburg and Charlotte, to make up for lopsided losses in liberal stronghold Burlington, according to Snelling.
She said Republicans in the county need to connect to their constituents by considering every issue on its merits and clearly explaining their decisions to voters. Building these kinds of relationships take times, she said, and it could take multiple campaigns for a Republican to gain enough notoriety to win.
“They would frequently say to me, you’re the only Republican I’ve ever voted for,” she said. “Vermont has always had the premise you vote for the person and not the party, but I think that’s changing.”
Snelling sees polarization creeping into the state as it becomes less isolated from national politics.
Wright said there are no centrist, moderate Republican voices in the Senate and that Farrell would “balance” the county’s representation in the chamber.
“I would hope that they would consider casting one of their six votes to cast for a young professional Republican who’s run a positive race and would bring balance and be a good addition to the state legislator,” he said.
Eric Davis, professor emeritus of political science at Middlebury College who has closely followed state elections for decades, said that it is an “uphill fight” for Farrell.
Electoral history in the county suggests that the Democrats with longer senate tenures — Ashe, Lyons, Sirotkin and Baruth — will likely be the top finishers, Davis said.
Ashe was the top vote-getter in the primary with 13,527 votes, followed Lyons with 12,886. Sirotkin, Ingram and Baruth all received between 10,000 and 11,000 votes. Pearson received the lowest vote total of the Democrats in the primary. But his 9,029 votes were still more than double the 3,507 votes Farrell received in the Republican primary.
In the 2016 general election, Pearson finished with almost 6,000 more votes than the seventh place finisher, Republican John Gifford.
Pearson said the predominant theme of his conversations with voters has been their frustration with national Republicans.
“A lot of people see leadership in Montpellier being a counterweight to the national scene,” he said. “That’s been gratifying to hear.”
Pearson said that he is proud of his record standing up for working families, including his support for the $15 minimum wage bill, which was also vetoed by Scott.
If re-elected, Pearson said he would again focus on increasing the minimum wage. He said he would also work on crafting cost-effective solutions to clean up Lake Champlain and work on pushing the school funding model from property taxes to income taxes.
“It seems to me that people are responding to my campaign, and I’m hopeful they will look at my record and see that I am fighting hard for the things that matter to Chittenden County,” he said.
Agricultural industry sales specialist Dana Maxfield and former representative Paul Dame are also running as Republicans. But Farrell has been the clear favorite of GOP leaders including Scott, who has campaigned on his behalf, and party donors.
According to the most recent data from the secretary of state’s office, Farrell has raised $45,496, compared to $10,400 for Dame and 7,539 for Maxfield.
The campaign has mostly been positive, with the exception of Burlington GOP chair Paco DeFrancis’ decision to release video footage showing Ingram’s 2017 DUI arrest.
Farrell suspended his campaign manager, Jeff Bartley, after Bartley seemingly endorsed DeFrancis’ decision.
Farrell said release of the footage was inappropriate, and that Ingram had taken responsibility for her mistake. He said he looked at the timestamps of the messages and found that DeFrancis had posted the video before consulting Bartley. He added that Bartley had called DeFrancis and told him not to post the videos.
Bartley has rejoined the campaign in a lessened role, Farrell said.
Davis said that Ingram and Pearson have both been been running active campaigns and there is Democratic energy in this midterm election. But he wouldn’t count Farrell out completely.
“The six Democrats would be favored, but it would not be a complete surprise if Farrell could pull off an upset victory and finish in sixth,” Davis said.
