Vermont Democratic Party

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

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, 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.

The date the state party was formed is unknown because the state headquarters has not retained historical documents. Until 1824, opponents of the Federalist Party 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 were largely responsible for founding the Whig Party in the early 1830s as the main opposition to Democratic-Republican Andrew Jackson. In 1830, Vermont newspaper articles still referred to supporters of Andrew Jackson 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. 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. 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. 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. 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, 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, but never again had a close race; he served six terms before retiring in 2022.