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Republican Milne Beats Libertarian Write-In in Vermont Governor's Race

Republican businessman Scott Milne defeated two fellow GOP hopefuls and a Libertarian's write-in bid Tuesday for the chance to face two-term Democratic incumbent Gov. Peter Shumlin in November.

Republican businessman Scott Milne defeated two fellow GOP hopefuls and a Libertarian's write-in bid Tuesday for the chance to face two-term Democratic incumbent Gov. Peter Shumlin in November.

 

Shumlin easily defeated H. Brooke Paige of Washington, who also ran and lost to incumbent William Sorrell in the Democratic primary for attorney general.

 

Milne defeated the two other declared Republicans on the ballot, Steve Berry of Wolcott and Emily Peyton of Putney, as well as Libertarian Dan Feliciano, who was urging Republicans to write his name in on the GOP ballot.

 

Milne, the president of a family-owned travel business, noted no challenger had defeated an incumbent governor in 52 years, since Democrat Phil Hoff did it to Republican F. Ray Keyser in 1962.

 

"I'm really happy and flattered and humbled that I'm the man in the shoes who's walking toward doing that," Milne, of Pomfret, said Tuesday evening.

 

Of the coming race against Shumlin, Milne said, "I think we're going to see a typical campaign from an incumbent with a lot of money and a lot of government money to dole out, but who's got a really bad record he's going to have to try to run away from."

 

Shumlin's campaign issued a statement quoting him as saying that serving as governor is "the greatest privilege of my life," touting his efforts to add jobs and saying he looked forward to the campaign.

 

With 42 percent of precincts reporting shortly before 9 p.m., Shumlin had 84 percent of the vote, while Paige has 16 percent. Milne had 85 percent of the vote in the GOP primary. In the Democratic attorney general primary, Sorrell had 81 percent of the vote.

Caroline Cournoyer is GOVERNING's senior web editor.
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