BennDems Emerge United From Primary and Rally Around General Election Candidates

On August 14, the day after the primary election and just ahead of the Democratic National Convention, Bennington County Democrats met to unify behind local candidates as well as a national ticket led by Vice President Kamala Harris and Governor Tim Walz. 

“We did not want to lose any time before rallying behind the primary’s winning Democrats,” said Jim Ramsey, Chair of the Bennington County Democratic Committee. 

Representative Seth Bongartz of Manchester and Rob Plunkett of Bennington become general election Bennington County State Senate candidates, replacing retiring Senator Brian Campion, as well as longtime Senator Dick Sears who died in June.  “Seth and Rob worked hard and fast, demonstrating considerable strength in an abbreviated primary campaign season,” according to Ramsey.

Commending the other Senate candidates, Tina Cook of Bennington,  Kate Seaton of Shaftsbury, and Jonathan West of Manchester, Ramsey said that this year’s candidates “represent the face of a new generation of Democratic candidates,” and was encouraged by the public’s response to their campaigns. 

The other contested election was in Bennington-2 (BEN2) House District where four candidates – incumbent Tim Corcoran, along with 1st-time House candidates Asher Edelson, Will Greer and Leon Johnson -- ran energetic campaigns for two Vermont State House seats.  Corcoran and Greer won the nomination, closely followed by Johnson and Edelson.  The balance of Bennington County’s Democratic ticket heading into the general election include House candidates Jonathan Cooper (BEN1), David Durfee (BEN3), Kathleen James and Rob Porter (BEN4), Mike Nigro and Jim Carroll (BEN5). 

In addition, Democrats earned nominations for the November General Election from House Districts shared with neighboring counties: Mike Rice (Bennington-Rutland), Robin Chestnut Tangerman (Rutland-Bennington), and Chris Morrow (Windsor-Windham-Bennington). 

With election certification still underway, the Bennington County Dems at their August 14th meeting also voted unanimously to support Will Greer of Bennington, who, in addition to narrowly winning the nomination for a House seat, received the most write-in votes for Bennington County High Bailiff. 

“Primaries within the party help our candidates articulate their vision, hone their message, raise funds, and start to build their campaign team,” said Ramsey. “The intraparty competition can be fierce, but when the primary dust settles, Bennington County Democrats unite around their elected candidates.”  Noting that two of Bennington County’s young leaders, Asher Edelson and Addie Lentzner, had been elected as delegates to represent Vermont at the Democratic National Convention next week in Chicago, Bennington County Democratic Vice Chair Mary Gerisch proposed a resolution of support of the State Senate candidates and every other Democrat up and down the ticket, pledging to help in every way possible to win in November, which was unanimously approved.