The Vermont Democratic Party is the affiliate of the Democratic Party in the U.S. state of

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 ...

. Since the founding of the Republican Party until the 1960s, Vermont was almost exclusively a Republican state, with Republicans dominating Vermont politics, especially the governorship, from 1854 to 1960. But Democrats have since staged a resurgence in state politics, perhaps inspired by the election of John F. Kennedy as president in 1960. It is now the dominant party in the state, controlling Vermont's at-large U.S. House seat, one of its U.S. Senate seats, and majorities in both houses of the state legislature. Vermont's other U.S. Senate seat is held by

Bernie Sanders Bernard Sanders (born September8, 1941) is an American politician and activist who is the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States Senate, United States senator from the state of Vermont. He is the longest-serving independ ...

, an independent who caucuses with the Democratic Party. The only statewide offices the party does not control is the governorship, held by Republican Phil Scott, and the lieutenant governorship, held by Republican John S. Rodgers.

History

The date the state party was formed is unknown because the state headquarters has not retained historical documents.Appleton, Andrew & Ward, Daniel. "State Party Profiles". Congressional Quarterly Inc, 1997. p. 332. Until 1824, opponents of the

Federalist Party The Federalist Party was a conservativeMultiple sources: * * * * * * * * and nationalist American political party and the first political party in the United States. It dominated the national government under Alexander Hamilton from 17 ...

were known as Republicans or Democratic-Republicans. After the demise of the Federalists left only one major party, supporters of Democratic-Republicans John Quincy Adams and

Henry Clay Henry Clay (April 12, 1777June 29, 1852) was an American lawyer and statesman who represented Kentucky in both the United States Senate, U.S. Senate and United States House of Representatives, House of Representatives. He was the seventh Spea ...

were largely responsible for founding the Whig Party in the early 1830s as the main opposition to Democratic-Republican

Andrew Jackson Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before Presidency of Andrew Jackson, his presidency, he rose to fame as a general in the U.S. Army and served in both houses ...

. In 1830, Vermont newspaper articles still referred to supporters of

for president in 1832 as Democratic-Republican, or occasionally "Democratic". By 1831, the name Democratic was more often used as a way to distinguish Jackson and his supporters from the "old" Democratic-Republican Party of

Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (, 1743July 4, 1826) was an American Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was the primary author of the United States Declaration of Indepe ...

. By the end of 1831, "Democratic" was used almost exclusively. Since Republicans dominated Vermont for so long, the national Democratic Party paid little attention to the state.Appleton, Andrew & Ward, Daniel. "State Party Profiles". Congressional Quarterly Inc, 1997. p. 330. Democrats usually contested statewide elections, but opposition to Republicans was generally desultory. Democrats filled appointed federal positions such as U.S. Attorney during the administrations of Democratic presidents, and were occasionally appointed to positions considered nonpartisan, such as Seneca Haselton's tenure as an associate justice of the

Vermont Supreme Court The Vermont Supreme Court is the highest judicial authority of the U.S. state of Vermont. Unlike most other states, the Vermont Supreme Court hears appeals directly from the trial courts, as Vermont has no intermediate appeals court. The court ...

. Only in the 1960s did Democrats start to pull together an effective statewide organization. Democrats were effectively shut out of high office in Vermont from 1854 until 1958, when Democrat William H. Meyer was narrowly elected to the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...

. Until his election, no Democrat had represented Vermont in the House or Senate since the Republican Party was founded. Meyer served only one term, losing to Republican Robert Stafford in 1960. In

1962 The year saw the Cuban Missile Crisis, which is often considered the closest the world came to a Nuclear warfare, nuclear confrontation during the Cold War. Events January * January 1 – Samoa, Western Samoa becomes independent from Ne ...

, Democrat Philip H. Hoff was elected governor of Vermont, becoming the first Democrat to serve as governor since John S. Robinson. In 1964, Vermont Democrats had the best year in over a century. Hoff was reelected in a landslide, and every other row office—lieutenant governor, attorney general, secretary of state, treasurer, and auditor—was won by a Democrat. The party's success in 1964 was due in part to Lyndon B. Johnson's landslide victory in that year's presidential election, which included a 66%–33% victory in Vermont, the first time the state ever went blue at the presidential level. In 1974, Patrick Leahy became the first Democrat to represent Vermont in the U.S. Senate, narrowly defeating Republican Richard W. Mallary. Leahy was reelected in a similarly close race in

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a United States grain embargo against the Soviet Union, grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning Sys ...

, but never again had a close race; he served six terms before retiring in 2022. Democrats gained a majority in the State Senate in 1984, followed by a one-seat State House majority in 1986. With Governor Madeleine Kunin, Democrats had a trifecta for the first time in party history. Except for a brief period from 2000 to 2004, Democrats retained the governing majority in the House to this day.

Ideology, policies, and party platform

Ideology

Today, the Vermont Democratic Party is rooted in

progressivism Progressivism is a Left-right political spectrum, left-leaning political philosophy and Reformism, reform political movement, movement that seeks to advance the human condition through social reform. Adherents hold that progressivism has unive ...

and American liberalism. The state is considered a breeding ground for Progressives and Independents, many of whom have close ties to the Vermont Democratic Party. Most Progressives run under the Democratic Party banner in Vermont.

Policies

The Vermont Democratic Party advocates

universal health care Universal health care (also called universal health coverage, universal coverage, or universal care) is a health care system in which all residents of a particular country or region are assured access to health care. It is generally organized a ...

, equality for all, and social justice.Vermont Democratic Party
/ref> Many of its proposals have been adopted, including universal health care ( Green Mountain Care),

same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same legal Legal sex and gender, sex. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 38 countries, with a total population of 1.5 ...

, and the closing and decommissioning of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power station in 2015. The party tends towards

environmentalism Environmentalism is a broad philosophy, ideology, and social movement about supporting life, habitats, and surroundings. While environmentalism focuses more on the environmental and nature-related aspects of green ideology and politics, ecolog ...

, favoring measures to protect Vermont's natural resources and ecosystems. State Democrats have called for Vermont to be the first state to use only

renewable energy Renewable energy (also called green energy) is energy made from renewable resource, renewable natural resources that are replenished on a human lifetime, human timescale. The most widely used renewable energy types are solar energy, wind pow ...

sources. The party also favors campaign finance reform, but aligns with the national party in supporting some liberalization of campaign finance regulations so that it may better remain competitive with the Republicans.

Party platform

On September 12, 2020, the Vermont Democratic Party approved documents representing its platform. It conforms very closely to the

United States Democratic Party The Democratic Party is a Centre-left politics, center-left political parties in the United States, political party in the United States. One of the Major party, major parties of the U.S., it was founded in 1828, making it the world's oldes ...

platform, addressing issues such as the economy, the environment, foreign policy, and civil rights.

Economic opportunity

The Vermont Democratic Party's economic platform primarily focuses on keeping businesses owned and operated in Vermont. There should be heavy focus on

entrepreneurship Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value in ways that generally entail beyond the minimal amount of risk (assumed by a traditional business), and potentially involving values besides simply economic ones. An entrepreneu ...

and job creation. The party supports a strong and vibrant

middle class The middle class refers to a class of people in the middle of a social hierarchy, often defined by occupation, income, education, or social status. The term has historically been associated with modernity, capitalism and political debate. C ...

that encourages youth to pursue careers within the state. Its main focus is economic growth and job creation. The party believes that the state government should make Vermont a desirable place for people to bring or start businesses. The party plans to do this by giving financial incentives to businesses that are energy-efficient, are in Vermont's developing areas, and provide workers with a livable wage. The party wants to reverse the Bush tax cuts. It supports a graduated income tax based on ability to pay. Under such a system, the wealthy are taxed at a higher rate than the middle class, and the very poor pay little or no income tax.

Environmental issues

The party believes a healthy environment is essential to

quality of life Quality of life (QOL) is defined by the World Health Organization as "an individual's perception of their position in life in the context of the culture and value systems in which they live and in relation to their goals, expectations, standards ...

and recognizes global climate change as a major problem. The party believes we have moral and ethical obligations to protect and conserve the environment. It is committed to the rigorous and consistent enforcement of environmental laws and regulations. It supports alternative energy, including investments and research, and favors rapid implementation of "cleaner" alternatives to oil and other fossil fuels. Vermont Democrats support laws that cap, or limit, the carbon emissions of both public transportation and personal vehicles.

Foreign policy

The party opposed the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It believes the decision to go to war was ill-advised and led to the deaths of thousands of innocent people. The party strongly supported President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

's decisions to withdraw troops from both Iraq and Afghanistan.

Civil rights

The Vermont Democratic Party supports equal rights amendments to the

Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these pri ...

and the protection of all citizens, regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, age, national origin, disability, military service, or creed. It supported Vermont's pioneering initiatives in same-sex marriage and the preceding laws favoring civil unions. It supported the repeals of Don't Ask, Don't Tell and the Defense of Marriage Act. The party denounces torture and believes all people have

due process Due process of law is application by the state of all legal rules and principles pertaining to a case so all legal rights that are owed to a person are respected. Due process balances the power of law of the land and protects the individual p ...

rights that should never be violated. The party strongly supported Obama's decision to ban the torturous technique of waterboarding from being used on suspected terrorists.

Howard Dean

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 ...

may be the most nationally renowned Democratic politician to come out of Vermont in recent years. He served as governor of Vermont from 1991 to 2003. In 2004 he ran for the Democratic nomination for president. Dean chaired the Democratic National Committee from 2005 to 2009 and is credited with being instrumental in Obama's election as president in 2008. His fifty-state strategy is widely considered the reason Obama was able to win some typically Republican states.

Current elected officials

As of late 2020, Democrats hold five of the six statewide offices in the executive branch—all but

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

(Republican)—and firm majorities in Vermont's Senate and House of Representatives. At the federal level, Democrats hold one of the state's U.S. Senate seats and the state's single at-large seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. Senator Peter Welch, first elected to the U.S. House in 2006, was the first Democrat to represent Vermont in the lower chamber of Congress since William H. Meyer in 1961, and the first House Democrat from Vermont to be reelected in more than 150 years.