• VT-Gov: In a very unexpected development. WCAX reported on Friday that former Gov. Howard Dean is considering a comeback bid for the post he gave up more than two decades ago ahead of his 2004 presidential campaign.
The Democrat soon confirmed his interest to VTDigger, though he wasn't forthcoming about his plans. "I am considering running," he told reporter Paul Heintz in a text message. "You get to find out when everyone else (me included) does."
There are, however, some major potential obstacles for Dean, who is the longest-serving governor in state history. While Republican Gov. Phil Scott still has yet to say whether he'll seek a fifth two-year term ahead of the May 30 candidate filing deadline, Heintz writes that the incumbent is "widely expected" to run again.
Scott is a proven vote-getter in what's otherwise a solidly blue state, and he'd be difficult for anyone to beat, including Dean. And if the governor does defy convention wisdom and retire, prominent local Democrats who want to succeed him may not be inclined to defer to Dean. But we have to stand by for a while before we get official word from Scott, who waited until the last possible day to kick off his last reelection effort in 2022.
Dean was also an electoral powerhouse long before he became a national figure—and long before Vermont became a reliably Democratic state. In 1982, the year Dean was first elected to the state House, Gov. Richard Snelling fended off a challenge from Democratic Lt. Gov. Madeleine Kunin as his party maintained control of both chambers of the legislature—a state of affairs that would be unthinkable today.
Kunin went on to become the state's first woman governor after she narrowly won the 1984 race to replace the retiring Snelling. Her victory came despite Ronald Reagan's 49-state landslide—the only Democrat who had ever carried the state's electoral votes was Lyndon Johnson in 1964—but her next opponent would help state the stage for Dean's rise.
In 1986, Lt. Gov. Peter Smith, a Republican, left his post behind to challenge Kunin, opening the door for Dean to seek a promotion. Smith failed to knock off Kunin, but Dean snagged the number-two spot by beating back Republican Susan Auld 53-44. (Governors and lieutenant governors are elected separately in Vermont.)
Dean had no trouble holding his new post two years later, and he won his third term with 58% of the vote in 1990 even as Snelling was reclaiming the governorship. (Smith, who had gone on to win Vermont's only U.S. House seat two years before, lost reelection that cycle in a rematch with an independent named Bernie Sanders.)
But Snelling died less than a year into his second stint of a sudden heart attack at 64, and Dean ascended to the governorship. The new chief executive proved to be popular and won his first full term 75-23 as Bill Clinton began the first in what's now an unbroken string of Democratic victories in the state at the presidential level. Dean always won reelection by double digits, though Republicans held at least one chamber of the legislature during much of his governorship.
The Democrat faced his toughest challenge following a 1999 state Supreme Court ruling that required the legislature to either legalize same-sex marriage or create a separate system of domestic partnerships―neither of which was available in any state. Dean said the first option "makes me uncomfortable, the same as anyone else" but supported a civil unions bill, a move that riled conservatives.
"Vermont is going to enact the most radical social legislation in the country," declared Republican state Rep. Ruth Dwyer, who challenged Dean for the governorship in 2000. Dean retorted that the civil unions bill he signed "speaks to the heart of this state, and certainly to my heart" and held off Dwyer 50-38.
In 2002, Dean retired after more than a decade in office as he planned out what looked like a longshot 2004 bid for the Democratic presidential nomination. That year, Republican Jim Douglas reclaimed the governorship for the GOP.
Dean's ardent opposition to the Iraq War, though, would help him emerge as a major force in national party politics even though he ultimately wasn't able to beat John Kerry for the nod. (While many observers still snark that his infamous "Dean Scream" cost the Vermonter everything, that howl came after he took a disappointing third place in the Iowa caucuses.)
Dean's presidential campaign transformed into Democracy for America, which for a time became a prominent progressive organization. (It disbanded in 2022.) Dean, exhorting Democrats to pursue a "50-state strategy," went on to chair the Democratic National Committee from 2005 to 2009, a period that saw the party retake both chambers of Congress and later the White House.
However, it would also mark the pinnacle of his national influence. The incoming Obama administration wouldn't offer the outgoing chairman any major posts, something that his allies blamed on hostility from Rahm Emanuel, the 2006 DCCC chairman and soon-to-be White House chief of staff.
Dean has remained a presence in the national media since leaving the DNC, but he hasn't held any major roles in party politics over the ensuing years. While he responded to Donald Trump's 2016 win by launching a campaign to reclaim the committee's chairmanship, Dean dropped out less than a month later.
It therefore came as a considerable surprise when word broke that Dean was interested in taking on Scott. If Dean were to reclaim his old job after a 22-year absence, he'd have one of the largest gaps between governorships in American history. However, he'd still fall short of the record that West Virginia Republican Cecil Underwood set when he was elected governor in 1996, 36 years after he was first termed out of office.
Disclosure: David Nir, who volunteered for Dean's presidential campaign in 2003, edited this piece.