Six vie for Chittenden County Senate seat

by Anne Galloway vtdigger.org On Wednesday night Democrats will recommend three candidates for the state Senate seat from Chittenden County formerly held by Sally Fox.
Fox died on Jan. 10.
Gov. Peter Shumlin must appoint a new senator, and Chittenden County Democrats will offer him a selection of three candidates to choose from.
There are six candidates in all vying for the seat: Rep. Tim Jerman, D-Essex, and Jake Perkinson, the former chair of the state Democratic Party, Rep. Kesha Ram, D-Burlington, Crea Lintilhac, a philanthropist from Shelburne, Debbie Ingram, who placed seventh in the last race, and educator Dawn Ellis.
David Scherr, chair of the Chittenden County Democratic Committee, says the process will be simple ‘ candidates will give speeches and the 80 members of the committee will vote.
‘Everybody will have three votes, everyone can vote for one candidate and you can’t vote for one candidate more than once,’ Scherr said.
The top three vote-getters will be the committee’s recommendation to the governor.
Scherr said they haven’t decided yet whether they will announce the rank order of the top three.
Though Perkinson is well known within party circles ‘ he held the chairmanship in the last election cycle, Jerman, who is in his fifth term as House rep, is said to be on the inside track for the slot. Jerman has experience on three committees in the House ‘ government operations, education and natural resources ‘ and he has worked with a number of senators on key issues, he says.
‘I have worked with the senators, I know them well and we have a comfort level and I have an ability to hit the ground running that might be unique among candidates,’ Jerman said. ‘I think as a matter of course I’m not a ideologue, I believe in moving the process along and prioritizing.’
Essex, where Jerman has lived for 32 years, hasn’t had a state senator in two decades.
Jerman says he hopes he has a decent shot, but the other candidates are so good he wouldn’t mind losing. He pointed to Perkinson and Lintilhac as standouts in the field.
‘I enjoy what I’m doing and it would be a great honor to do this,’ Jermain said. ‘I can’t lose for winning, it’s going to be a great outcome no matter what happens.’
Whoever is appointed by the governor must run in the 2014 election. With a total of six seats, the Chittenden County district is the largest and most competitive Senate race in the state.
The meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at Fletcher Free Library in Burlington.