The 2000 Vermont gubernatorial election took place on November 7, 2000. Incumbent Democratic governor

Howard Dean Howard Brush Dean III (born November 17, 1948) is an American physician, author, consultant, and retired politician who served as the 79th governor of Vermont from 1991 to 2003 and chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) from 2005 to 20 ...

won re-election. The campaign was dominated by the fallout from the passage of a civil union bill and the subsequent backlash encapsulated by the slogan

Take Back Vermont Take Back Vermont was an issue-oriented political campaign in the U.S. state of Vermont in the year 2000. Its formation was triggered by the state legislature's passage of a law establishing civil unions for same-sex couples in 2000. Its aim was wi ...

. Ruth Dwyer, the Republican nominee in

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

, ran again in 2000 and was closely tied to the Take Back Vermont movement. Howard Dean, the Democratic governor, favored civil unions and was a primary target of Take Back Vermont.

Nominations

Democratic

Republican

Progressive

The

Vermont Progressive Party The Vermont Progressive Party, formerly the Progressive Coalition and Independent Coalition, is a political party in the United States that is active in Vermont. It is the third-largest political party in Vermont behind the Democratic and Repub ...

unanimously selected to give its nomination to

Anthony Pollina Anthony Pollina (born February 17, 1952) is an American politician who has served as Chair of the Vermont Progressive Party since 2017, and was a member of the Vermont Senate from 2011 to 2023. Biography Anthony Pollina was born in Ridgewood, N ...

on February 13, 2000. Elizabeth Skarie, the wife of Jerry Greenfield, also sought the nomination.

General election

Progressive Anthony Pollina's candidacy nearly succeeded in holding Dean to less than 50 percent, which would have required the

Vermont General Assembly The Vermont General Assembly is the legislative body of the state of Vermont, in the United States. The Legislature is formally known as the "General Assembly", but the style of "Legislature" is commonly used, including by the body itself. The G ...

to choose a winner. In such races, the joint meeting of the Vermont House and Senate almost always chooses the candidate who received the highest number of votes, but Republicans took control of the Vermont House in 2001, which might have resulted in a contested election.

Debates

Complete video of debate
September 24, 2000

Results

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

Bennington Bennington is a New England town, town in Bennington County, Vermont, United States. It is one of two shire towns (county seats) of the county, the other being Manchester (town), Vermont, Manchester. As of the 2020 United States Census, US Cens ...

(largest municipality:

) * Grand Isle (largest municipality: Alburgh)

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

Franklin Franklin may refer to: People and characters * Franklin (given name), including list of people and characters with the name * Franklin (surname), including list of people and characters with the name * Franklin (class), a member of a historic ...

(largest municipality:

St. Albans St Albans () is a cathedral city in Hertfordshire, England, east of Hemel Hempstead and west of Hatfield, north-west of London, south-west of Welwyn Garden City and south-east of Luton. St Albans was the first major town on the old Roman r ...

)

References

Vermont Vermont () is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, New York (state), New York to the west, and the Provinces and territories of Ca ...

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

Gubernatorial A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the type of political region or polity, a ''governor'' ma ...

Howard Dean {{Vermont-election-stub