Dubie concedes governor’s race to Shumlin

Lieutenant Governor Brian Dubie called Senate President Peter Shumlin this morning to concede and to congratulate him on his election as Vermont’s next Governor. The race was decided by only two percentage points, according to the latest figures.
‘I am so grateful to the thousands of Vermonters who supported this campaign,’ Dubie said. ‘We had a tremendous outpouring of support in every corner of this state and hundreds of volunteers who worked tirelessly to share my vision of creating more opportunities for Vermonters. I want to encourage all of them to continue to be active participants in our democracy and work toward making this great state of ours an even better state. This was an extremely close race. Voters have made their choice, and it is now time for all of us to unite as Vermonters and work together to move forward.’
In a sometimes bitter campaign in which the term ‘ethically challenged’ became a catch phrase and $3.5 million was spent, the Putney Democrat Shumlin edged the Essex Republican by less than 4,000 votes with nearly all the votes counted.
WCAX-TV is reporting Wednesday morning that with 96.3 percent of the vote tallied, its unofficial total had Shumlin with 115,209 (50 percent) and Dubie at 111,448 (48 percent). The Secretary of State’s office must ratify the totals and will present the official results by next Tuesday. The five other minor party candidates in the race had a total of 5,960 votes.
http://blackpearl.wcax.com/Election_Results/governor_Full.php
If no candidate gets 50 percent of the vote, the Vermont constitution essentially considers that no election has taken place and the race then goes to the Legislature with each member, House and Senate, casting his vote by secret ballot. Dubie said before the election that regardless of the outcome he would stand by the voter totals if they favored Shumlin and concede even if there were no majority. In any case, the Legislature, based on the Tuesday results will remain heavily Democratic in both chambers.
Despite the closeness of the race, Shumlin was confident late into the night that he would ultimately prevail, coming to the podium at the Hilton in Burlington twice to say his internal numbers had him winning, even with the WCAX numbers showing the race still going back and forth. At one point late Tuesday, with more than 80 percent of the vote counted, Shumlin was ahead by five votes and in the next moment Dubie was ahead by seven.
PHOTO: Peter Shumlin in Williston Tuesday afternoon.
Source: WCAX. Vermont Business Magazine. 11.3.2010