2010 United States Senate election in Vermont

The 2010 United States Senate election in Vermont took place on November 2, 2010, alongside other elections to the United States Senate in other states as well as elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy was re-elected to a seventh term.^[1]

2010 United States Senate election in Vermont

← 2004 November 2, 2010 2016 →

Nominee Patrick Leahy Len Britton Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 151,281 72,699 Percentage 64.36% 30.93%

County results Municipality results Leahy:      30-40%      40-50%      50-60%      60-70%      70-80%      80-90% Britton:      40-50%      50-60%

U.S. senator before election Patrick Leahy Democratic Elected U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy Democratic

Democratic primary

Candidates

• Daniel Freilich, military doctor (also running as an independent)
• Patrick Leahy, incumbent U.S. Senator

Results

Democratic primary results^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Patrick Leahy (incumbent)	64,177	89.06%
	Democratic	Daniel Freilich	7,886	10.94%
Total votes			72,063	100.0%

General election

Candidates

• Len Britton (R), businessman
• Stephen Cain (I)^[3]
• Pete Diamondstone (Socialist)^[3][4]
• Cris Ericson (U.S. Marijuana), two-time former candidate for U.S. Senate^[3]
• Daniel Freilich (I), military doctor^[3]
• Patrick Leahy (D), incumbent U.S. Senator
• Johenry Nunes (I), military education and training manager^[3]

Campaign

First elected in 1974, Leahy was at the time the first and only Democrat elected to the U.S. Senate from Vermont. He won his last two re-election campaigns with at least 70% of the vote. He is the second-most-senior member of Congress. In a June 2010 poll, the incumbent was viewed very favorably by 52% of the state. 52% of the state opposed repeal of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and 50% opposed Arizona's immigration law. Obama's approval rating in the poll was 62%.^[5] Obama carried Vermont with 67% of the vote in 2008.

His Republican opponent was Len Britton, a businessman who had never run for public office before. As of August 2010, he had released two TV ads, criticizing Obama's stimulus and the deficits.^[6] His campaign manager admitted, "Len is an unknown candidate and we are rigorously running on a difficult campaign schedule."^[7]

Debates

• October 14: All four candidates on CCTV in Burlington^{[citation needed]}
• October 19: Two candidates on Vermont Public Radio^[8]

Predictions

Source	Ranking	As of
Cook Political Report[9]	Solid D	October 26, 2010
Rothenberg[10]	Safe D	October 22, 2010
RealClearPolitics[11]	Safe D	October 26, 2010
Sabato's Crystal Ball[12]	Safe D	October 21, 2010
CQ Politics[13]	Safe D	October 26, 2010

Polling

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size	Margin of error	Patrick Leahy (D)	Len Britton (R)	Other	Undecided
Rasmussen Reports[14]	June 17, 2010	500	± 4.5%	64%	29%	3%	4%
Rasmussen Reports[15]	September 13, 2010	500	± 4.5%	63%	32%	2%	4%
Vermont Public Radio/Mason-Dixon[16]	October 11–13, 2010	625	± 4.0%	62%	27%	4%	7%

Fundraising

Candidate (party)	Receipts	Disbursements	Cash on hand	Debt
Patrick Leahy (D)	$3,469,878	$2,090,603	$2,598,061	$0
Len Britton (R)	$199,813	$144,541	$55,270	$69,833
Source: Federal Election Commission[17]

Results

United States Senate election in Vermont, 2010^[18]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Patrick Leahy (incumbent)	151,281	64.36%	−6.27%
	Republican	Len Britton	72,699	30.93%	+6.38%
	Independent	Daniel Freilich	3,544	1.51%	N/A
	Marijuana	Cris Ericson	2,731	1.16%	N/A
	Independent	Stephen Cain	2,356	1.00%	N/A
	Socialist	Peter Diamondstone	1,433	0.61%	N/A
	Independent	Johenry Nunes	1,021	0.43%	N/A
Majority			78,528	33.43%
Total votes			235,065	100.00%
	Democratic hold		Swing