Windsor 6-1 (VT) Should Not Be Cause for Concern

For all the horrible choices governors tend to make when it comes to filling vacant Senate seats, they appear to fare much better when it comes to replacing state legislators. Today, Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin named special educator/filmmaker Teo Zagar to finish the term of former Representative Mark Mitchell, who had resigned for health reasons. Zagar is relatively young, and his knowledge of special education issues could be useful when the legislature takes up some systemic education issues in the not-so-distant future.

Any time an established incumbent is replaced with new blood, the other side is bound to be licking their lips, but in this case, Republicans are likely to come up empty. Below are the Vermont District Index scores for the past three cycles - not only does Windsor 6-1 sit at a healthy 57-43 Democratic edge, but it has also been trending away from Republicans by roughly 3% a cycle.



Representative Mark Larson also stepped down from his seat in the legislature to accept an appointment in the administration. Rep. Larson's seat gives Democrats even less to worry about, as you can see below. However, it isn't every day that an open seat shows up in Burlington, and you would have to imagine that a handful of people are going to want to be involved. It also happens to be the only single members district in the city of Burlington, which might avoid some of the ugly complications that have plagued races in that area. Hope for the appointment to be a good one, as this seat is blue enough that the person selected should be safe for a long while.