2018 United States Senate election in Vermont

The 2018 United States Senate election in Vermont was held November 6, 2018, alongside a gubernatorial election, U.S. House election, and other state and local elections. Incumbent independent Senator Bernie Sanders won re-election to a third term, defeating Republican nominee Lawrence Zupan.^[1] The primaries were held on August 14.^[2] This was one of two independent-held Senate seats up for election in a state that Hillary Clinton won in the 2016 presidential election.

2018 United States Senate election in Vermont

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Turnout	55.57%
Nominee Bernie Sanders Lawrence Zupan Party Independent Republican Popular vote 183,649 74,815 Percentage 67.44% 27.47%
County results Municipality results Sanders:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90% Zupan:      40–50%      50–60% Tie:      40–50%
U.S. Senator before election Bernie Sanders Independent Elected U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders Independent

Background

Two-term independent Senator Bernie Sanders was re-elected with 71% of the vote in 2012. Sanders, a candidate for president in the 2016 primary election and one of only three independent members of Congress, is a self-described democratic socialist.^[3][4]

Sanders had caucused with the Democratic Party since taking office in 2007, and was the chairman of the Budget Committee. He was 77 years old in 2018. Sanders ran for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination. After failing to win the nomination, he announced that he would run for re-election for his Senate seat in 2018.^[5]

Independents

Candidates

• Brad Peacock, farmer^[6]
• Bernie Sanders, incumbent U.S. senator (caucuses with Democrats)^[5]

Endorsements

Bernie Sanders

Organizations

• Democracy for America^[7]
• J Street^[8]
• MoveOn.org^[9]
• Our Revolution^[10]
• Rights and Democracy^[11]
• Sierra Club^[12]

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee

• Bernie Sanders, incumbent U.S. senator (declined nomination)^[13]

Eliminated in primary

• Folasade Adeluola, activist^[14]

Not on ballot

• Jon Svitavsky, homelessness activist^[14]

Withdrawn

• Al Giordano, journalist^[15]

Results

Results by county

Map legend

•   Sanders—≥90%
•   Sanders—80–90%

Democratic primary results^[16]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Bernie Sanders (incumbent)	63,683	94.02%
	Democratic	Folasade Adeluola	3,766	5.56%
	Write-in		281	0.41%
Total votes			67,730	100.00%

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee

• Lawrence Zupan, real estate broker^[17]

Withdrew nomination

• H. Brooke Paige, former CEO of Remmington News Service

Eliminated in primary

• Rocky De La Fuente, businessman^[18]
• Jasdeep Pannu, attorney^[19]

Did not file

• John MacGovern, former Massachusetts state representative and nominee for the U.S. Senate in 2012^[20]
• Scott Milne, businessman, nominee for governor in 2014 and nominee for the U.S. Senate in 2016^[20]

Results

Results by county

Map legend

•   Paige—50–60%
•   Paige—40–50%
•   Paige—30–40%
•   Zupan—30–40%
•   Zupan—40–50%
•   Zupan—50–60%
•   Zupan—60–70%

Republican primary results^[16]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	H. Brooke Paige	9,805	37.47%
	Republican	Lawrence Zupan	9,383	35.86%
	Republican	Jasdeep Pannu	4,527	17.30%
	Republican	Rocky De La Fuente	1,057	4.04%
	Write-in		1,394	5.33%
Total votes			26,166	100.00%

Post-primary

H. Brooke Paige, who also won the Republican nominations for U.S. House, state Attorney General, state Secretary of State, state Treasurer, and state Auditor, withdrew from all but the secretary of state race on August 24, in order to allow the Vermont Republican Party to name replacement candidates.^[21] The Vermont Republican Party picked Lawrence Zupan, who came in second place in the primary, to be the Republican nominee.^[22]

General election

Predictions

Source	Ranking	As of
CNN[23]	Solid I	July 12, 2018
Fox News[24]	Likely* I	July 9, 2018
RealClearPolitics[25]	Safe I	June 6, 2018
The Cook Political Report[26]	Solid I	October 11, 2017
Inside Elections[27]	Solid I	September 29, 2017
Sabato's Crystal Ball[28]	Safe I	September 27, 2017

*Highest rating given

Polling

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size	Margin of error	Bernie Sanders (I)	Lawrence Zupan (R)	Other	Undecided
Gravis Marketing[29]	October 30 – November 1, 2018	885	± 3.3%	66%	30%	–	4%
Braun Research[30]	October 5–14, 2018	495	± 4.4%	60%	19%	7%[31]	16%
Tulchin Research (D-Vermont Democratic Party)[32]	September 23–26, 2018	406	± 4.9%	75%	20%	–	–

Results

Sanders won re-election with 67.4% of the vote against eight other candidates.^[33]

United States Senate election in Vermont, 2018

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Bernie Sanders (incumbent)	183,649	67.44%	−3.56%
	Republican	Lawrence Zupan	74,815	27.47%	+2.57%
	Independent	Brad J. Peacock	3,665	1.35%	N/A
	Independent	Russell Beste	2,763	1.02%	N/A
	Independent	Edward S. Gilbert, Jr.	2,244	0.82%	N/A
	Independent	Folasade Adeluola	1,979	0.73%	N/A
	Liberty Union	Reid Kane	1,171	0.43%	−0.43%
	Independent	Jon Svitavsky	1,130	0.42%	N/A
	Independent	Bruce Busa	914	0.34%	N/A
	Write-in		294	0.11%	N/A
Total votes			272,330	100.00%	N/A
	Independent hold

See also

• United States Senate elections, 2018
• Vermont gubernatorial election, 2018