MONTPELIER, Vt. – Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin was sworn in to a third two-year term after his failure to win a majority of the popular vote in November forced state lawmakers to decide the winner on Thursday.
Shumlin defeated Republican Scott Milne by a vote of 110-to-69 in a joint session of the Vermont Legislature, an outcome that was expected given the strong majorities in both the House and Senate held by Shumlin’s fellow Democrats.
But Milne had refused to concede after a narrow loss in the midterm elections, and one organization had been airing a television ad asking voters to urge their lawmakers to support him.
Shumlin prevailed despite facing a major setback last month when he announced that he was dropping his long-sought goal of a universal, single-payer health care system for the state. He said the tax increases it would have required were too big to impose on residents and businesses.
Before he gave his inaugural address, dozens of demonstrators inside the Statehouse protested his decision to abandon the plan, which had been a signature proposal of his administration.
“It’s been an incredible honor to serve as governor of Vermont, and I am so grateful for the opportunity to continue serving this state I love,” Shumlin said in a statement released earlier Thursday.
The Legislature chose the governor for the third time since 2003 under a provision of the state Constitution that if no candidate for governor, lieutenant governor or treasurer wins 50 percent plus one vote, lawmakers get to decide.
In most circumstances, the second-place finisher concedes to the top vote-getter, and the Legislature’s vote is merely a formality. That’s what happened in 2003 and in 2011, after Shumlin won his first term.
But this time, Milne didn’t, and instead he sharply criticized the Democrat throughout the prolonged election process.
Shumlin has “wasted four years’ worth of opportunity to get our economy on track and it’s time to give somebody else the reins,” Milne, 55, said in a recent interview with The Associated Press.
Milne, a travel agency president and political newcomer from Pomfret, had been urging lawmakers to vote as their constituents did in each district, which could have resulted in a 90-90 tie. By Thursday, his tone had changed.
“I think it’s a good day for Vermont,” he said after the vote. “I was happy to be a part of it. I think the road that’s led us here has a lot of people feeling like one person can make a difference.”
Shumlin, 58, a longtime lawmaker who moved from Putney to East Montpelier after his election as governor, has repeatedly said he believes the top vote-getter should be given the nod by lawmakers, even without having received a majority of the popular vote.
The governor has pointed to long precedent, including 2002, when he conceded to Brian Dubie when no one won a majority in that year’s race for lieutenant governor, and 2010, when Dubie conceded to him in the gubernatorial race that first elected Shumlin.
The event was briefly delayed by protesters who unfurled a banner and sang, but they moved into the hallway after being asked to leave. Their singing could be heard in the House chamber as the inauguration ceremony progressed.
