GOP Gov. Phil Scott won re-election last year 55-40 in a contest that never looked very competitive, but he may face a prominent Democratic opponent in 2020. VT Digger reported this week that Attorney General T.J. Donovan and Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman are each considering taking him on, and neither ruled anything out when asked. Scott has not yet announced that he’s seeking a third two-year term, though the site says that Democrats expect him to run again.
An unnamed source told VT Digger that Donovan was “exploring very seriously.” The attorney general was a lot more coy in public, saying, “I would just say people are asking me, I’ve had a couple conversations and that’s the extent of it.” Donovan added that he was “nowhere near in terms of making a decision one way or the other.” Zuckerman also reportedly is thinking about getting in, but all he would say is that he “feel[s] little pressure to make any immediate decision” and wanted to focus on other things right now.
VT Digger also reports that both Donovan and Zuckerman are reluctant to run against one another in a primary and have been talking to one another about this race. Donovan didn’t deny anything, just saying any conversations that may have taken place are private. However, state Rep. Johanna Donovan, who is the attorney general’s mother, didn’t rule out the possibility that the two men could compete, saying a primary could “kind of get the Democratic voters out early and interested early.”
Both the younger Donovan and Zuckerman have run tough races over the past decade. In 2012 Donovan, who was Chittenden County state’s attorney, challenged longtime Attorney General Bill Sorrell in the primary and lost 51-49. Sorrell retired in 2016 and Donovan had little trouble winning the primary and general elections to succeed him, and he took 70% of the vote in last year’s general election.
Zuckerman, by contrast, spent 14 years in the legislature as a member of the Vermont Progressive Party, a third party that often allies with the Democrats. Zuckerman ran for lieutenant governor in 2016 in the primaries for both the Progressives and the Democrats (in Vermont, candidates can claim multiple party nominations).
