Free Republic

“It’s time to put down the gavel,” Patrick Leahy declared a few minutes ago in bowing out of the 2022 midterms. “It’s time to pass the torch to the next Vermonter.” It’s the identity of the next Vermonter that will worry Democrats, who have to defend another open seat in an election cycle that looks to be a disaster already.It doesn’t help that the heir apparent within Democrat ranks is only seven years younger than Leahy himself:Leahy is chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee and also president pro tempore of the Senate, making him third in the line of succession...

In another case of a RINO working against the best interests of his party and of the American people broadly, Vermont’s Republican Governor, Phil Scott, has signed an election bill requiring the state to mail ballots to all registered voters. “I’m signing this bill because I believe making sure voting is easy and accessible, and increasing voter participation is important,” he explained. “Having said that, we should not limit this expansion of access to general elections alone, which already have the highest voter turnout.” Governor Scott is directly contradicting the message of his own party, and common sense. While it...

For the first time, two Republican governors have publicly supported the impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump, a new development in an intensifying political fracas that has so far been largely partisan. Vermont Gov. Phil Scott and Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker, both outspoken critics of Trump, said Thursday that they favored the investigation, but Scott added that he would wait for more information before calling for further action against the president. In a statement to The Washington Post, Scott called the inquiry "appropriate" and said it is a key part of Congress's duty as a co-equal branch of government. "I...

The Governor of Vermont is the first Republican chief executive to publicly come out in favor of an impeachment inquiry against President Trump. Governor Phil Scott said at a press conference Thursday that he isn’t surprised about the allegations against the president because he has “watched him over the years.”Scott is a frequent critic of Trump so maybe it should be said that this stance by Vermont’s governor isn’t surprising, either. He can have the satisfaction, I guess, that he’s the first Republican governor to publicly support the Democrats’ impeachment agenda. When pressed by reporters, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine...

<p>Scott said at a news conference that he wasn’t surprised by the allegations that Trump repeatedly urged Ukraine’s president to “look into” Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden because he’s “watched him over the years.” Trump had requested Ukraine look into Biden's attempt to pressure the nation into firing its top prosecutor, who was investigating a natural gas firm partially led by his son, Hunter.</p>

In a June 21 press release, Vermont governor Phil Scott announced his decision to hire Xusana Davis, a thirty-year-old from New York City, as "the state's first executive director of racial disparity." Ms. Davis has been commissioned "to identify and address systemic racial disparities and support the state's efforts to expand and bring diversity to Vermont's overall population[.]" But it is far from clear that there are any "systemic racial disparities" to address. Governor Scott and Vermont attorney general T.J. Donovan have vocally condemned the Green Mountain State and its inhabitants as racist, based on statistics that show that blacks...

Vermont’s Republican governor Phil Scott suggested he could support former Massachusetts Gov. William Weld in the Republican presidential primary, but stopped short of an official endorsement. “Oh sure, yeah,” Scott said during his weekly press conference Thursday when asked if he would prefer Weld over Trump.

Not long ago Republican Phil Scott was one of the most popular governors in America, poised for a comfortable re-election in November. Then, after a possible school shooting was discovered by police in Vermont, he decided to support sweeping gun-control legislation - and has reaped a political whirlwind. The Vermont governor stands at a lectern in front of the state capitol building in Montpelier on a grey, blustery April day earlier this year. His wife and various politicians, officials and dignitaries stand behind him. Before him, a motley crowd. Some are cheering; others are angry - and loud. He's talking...

Vermont's Republican governor holds a 14-point lead over his Democratic challenger in the race with roughly two weeks to go until Election Day, according to a new poll. A VPR-Vermont PBS poll released Monday showed 42 percent of respondents support Gov. Phil Scott (R) for another term, while 28 percent back Democrat Christine Hallquist, who earlier this year became the first transgender candidate to win a major party's nomination for governor. Hallquist is a former chief executive of the Vermont Electric Cooperative. ADVERTISEMENT Scott is bolstered by a strong approval rating. The poll found 45 percent of respondents approve of...

One of the country's most popular Republican governors on Thursday called for an independent investigation into the allegations made against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and said the Senate should hold off on a vote. Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker made the comments as Professor Christine Blasey Ford testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee that Kavanaugh sexually and physically assaulted here. "The accusations brought against Judge Kavanaugh are sickening and deserve an independent investigation," Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker tweeted. "There should be no vote in the Senate." Baker, who faces re-election this November, is one of only a few Republican governors,...

Primaries in four states Tuesday — Minnesota, Connecticut, Wisconsin and Vermont — set up competitive governor’s, Senate and House races across the country this November. But even before then, these primaries identified some clear winners and losers that reinforced trends we’ve been seeing all year. Here they are: Winners Trump: At least in Republican primary politics, Tuesday once again proved he’s the king. Republican politicians on the ballot Tuesday who dissed him in 2016 raced to undo that, and those who didn’t do it convincingly enough lost their primaries. In Minnesota’s competitive governor’s race, Republican voters nominated a relative outsider,...

Vermont is poised to require that all residents have health insurance. Republican Gov. Phil Scott late last month quietly signed into law a bill that will include a penalty for those who don’t have insurance. The mandate is scheduled to take effect in 2020. A spokeswoman for the state’s largest private health insurance provider said the mandate provides stability. Nationally, many have rebelled against the idea the federal government could tell them what they needed to buy. New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy signed a similar law days later.

Among both cheers and jeers, Gov. Phil Scott approved a series of new gun restrictions Wednesday in a public bill signing. Scott, a Republican who is avowedly a supporter of the Second Amendment, signed bills H.422, S.221, and S.55, into law on the steps of the Statehouse in Montpelier, surrounded by a crowd divided over the issue of gun politics. The measures would remove guns from those thought to be “at risk” and from those arrested or cited on domestic assault charges as well as place restrictions on magazine capacities, bump stocks and gun sales to those under age 21....

Gov. Phil Scott has signed Vermont's marijuana legalization bill into law. A Scott administration official tells WCAX the governor signed the bill shortly before 2 p.m. Monday. Scott is now the first governor in the country to sign marijuana legalization into law. Eight other states legalized marijuana through public referendums. In a letter to lawmakers, Scott said he signed the bill, H.511, with "mixed emotions." The bill allows Vermonters over the age of 21 to have an ounce of weed and to grow a few plants. Once signed, the new law goes into effect July 1.