Paul Dame: Tuesday’s primaries told the tale of two different parties

This commentary is by Paul Dame, chair of the Vermont GOP.

The Democrat primary proved that is has been overtaken with the farthest left Progressives. In every single race that Democrats were given a chance, they chose the candidate furthest to the left and repeatedly rejected their moderate or centrist candidates.

Democrats rejected the more neutral technocrat Chris Winters for Secretary of State, instead choosing Sarah Copeland-Hanzas who took incredibly controversial steps to politicize the charter changes like the Barre City Flag ordinance, and who also rejected the single member map created by the bipartisan reapportionment committee which resulted in overturning the will of some communities, and forcing two Republican incumbents into a contested primary. Here Democrats chose ideological purity over pragmatism.

Paul Dame, chairman of the Vermont GOP

Democrats also rejected the more moderate Molly Gray in favor of Progressive ally Becca Balint. Aside from Becca’s endorsement from Progressives like Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, she also has made extreme statements expressing her desire to “Tax the hell out of fossil fuels,” which is in stark contrast to Gray’s willingness to work across the aisle on Republican priorities, like repealing the Military Pension Tax.

And in the race for Lt. Governor, Democrats again rejected moderates like Kitty Toll and Charlie Kimbell to go all in on another well-known Progressive candidate David Zuckerman, who received even fewer votes than Donald Trump in the 2020 election.

And most alarmingly of all, Democrats in Chittenden County stuck with Progressive Sarah George, despite the concerns of law enforcement community and neighboring State’s Attorney’s offices concerned about the rapid spread of crime and inconsistency of prosecutions. Democrats have positioned themselves to reject the calls for common sense public safety reforms, and instead are pushing forward with a woke agenda that is literally setting criminals free.

Democrats have shown in their primary that there is no longer any room for moderates, centrists or independents in their party.

Meanwhile on the Republican side our primary produced a much more diverse field of candidates, all from the same electorate.

First, Gerald Malloy won the U.S. Senate primary with a clear Conservative message that highlighted his military service and traditional Republican values.

Then Gov. Phil Scott and Senator Joe Benning were the clear choices of Republican voters looking for a more moderate and common sense approach.

And while a majority of Republicans split their vote between two conservative women for U.S. House, the plurality of Republican primary voters who chose Liam Madden, an anti-establishment Marine and environmentalist, demonstrates that even people who consider themselves Independent find themselves more closely aligning with the Vermont Republican Party because of our defense of free speech, protection of the second amendment and other traditional Vermont values which Progressive Democrats have abandoned.

While Progressive Democrats have continued the process of eliminating all but the most radical elements of their elected leaders, Republicans have chosen to broaden their approach to attract a growing coalition of Conservatives, Republicans and Independents to vote Republican elsewhere on their ballot this fall.

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

12 thoughts on “Paul Dame: Tuesday’s primaries told the tale of two different parties

  1. If both parties are moving leftward, then the state has no option. Vermont needs a party that truly stands against the destructive policies of the left, which have left human and environmental carnage every where they have been forced upon people. And make no mistake, 60 million babies is human carnage from policies passed by people that do not value people as individuals, but rather only to the extent they help prop up the state.

  2. MARCH 20220 “Rules Committee Chair Tom Koch and other committee members argued that threatening to discipline candidates will only discourage people from coming to run for office. The party needs a big tent approach, not more restrictions, Koch said.” AUGUST 2022 The VT GOP failed to disclose the big tent is a circus tent. It appears the voters in Vermont are being hoodwinked, gaslighted, and completely controlled by a group of old, useless, crows who now have a stable of younger, more useless, corrupted stooges who will do exactly what their Masters tell them to do. Banana Republic indeed.

  3. “Then Gov. Phil Scott and Senator Joe Benning were the clear choices of Republican voters looking for a more moderate and common-sense approach”. – Paul Dame

    No, Republicans weren’t looking for a moderate and common-sense approach, enough commiecrats took Republican ballots and made sure we got two rinos that they could lead around by the nose and have stab us in the back later.

    I’m not voting for either of these two clowns. They should both put on skirts and identify as Liz Cheney.

  4. The best that could have happened was for Phil to announce his changing parties and Joe go with him. At least then we would have one more moderate democrat in office, possibly two.
    If you can’t beat them join them and work from the inside to moderate the left.

  5. It’s truly scary to think of Vermont going even further Left and extreme than it already is.
    One has to ask if it’s really an evacuation plan.. because I cannot imagine that anyone with a functioning brain -that would like to survive- is going to stay in Vermont..
    It will be impossible to stay there unless you are a leftwing extremist.

  6. Please explain how an independent wins the republican primary? Why was he listed as an independent on the republican ballot? Lots of us will not vote for him because of this. Your offer should be withdrawn. He claims that he is not a republican. Do your job and replace him with the rightful winner of the republican primary, Erica!

  7. Democrats learned a lesson in the 2016 election; if extreme measures are necessary for winning, exceed them. It put Biden in office in 2020 with the willing lack of GOP resistance. I fear their election methodologies have now further been refined.

  8. Yes, and yes it did, DemocRATs pushed for their candidates to the front, every corner
    every day, and with plenty of TV commercials, VT’s GOP seemed to be asleep at the
    wheel and it shows……………….you can’t lead from behind !!!

    Pretty pathetic display from the leadership of the GOP

  9. Prediction:

    Scott will be the only winning candidate, he voted for Build Back Better.

    Here is our problem

    Spin it however you want.

    Let me ask this. If Trump ran for Governor, how many Republicans would have voted….

    Answer: All of them.

    We have not team, we have no vision, we have no money….it’s not your fault, you’ve been at it for a year or so. We don’t even have a full team of rino’s for God sake….that would be something.

    If we can’t admit, we’ve failed, we’ll never, never be able to build a team.
    Smarter than snakes, more innocent than doves…that’s what we need to be.

Comments are closed.