2008 Vermont gubernatorial election
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Douglas: 30–40% 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% Pollina: 30–40% 40–50% 50–60% Symington: 30–40% 40–50% 50–60% | |||||||||||||||||||||
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The 2008 Vermont gubernatorial election took place on November 4. Incumbent Republican Governor Jim Douglas won re-election to a fourth term. The gubernatorial primary took place on September 9, 2008.
Despite Democrat Barack Obama concurrently winning the state in a landslide in the presidential election and carrying every county, Republican Governor Jim Douglas was able to win reelection in a landslide and carried every county in the state himself. Democrats actually came in third, about 200 votes behind Independent candidate Anthony Pollina. Prior to 2024, this was the last time that a gubernatorial nominee and a lieutenant gubernatorial nominee of the same political party were elected governor and lieutenant governor of Vermont.
General election
Dates and deadlines
- July 21, 2008—filing (for major parties)
- September 9, 2008—primary election
- September 12, 2008—filing (for third parties)
- October 29, 2008—voter registration deadline for general election
- November 4, 2008—general election
Predictions
| Source | Ranking | As of |
|---|---|---|
| The Cook Political Report[2] | Likely R | October 16, 2008 |
| Rothenberg Political Report[3] | Likely R | November 2, 2008 |
| Sabato's Crystal Ball[4] | Safe R | November 3, 2008 |
| Real Clear Politics[5] | Safe R | November 4, 2008 |
Polling
| Source | Date | Jim Douglas (R) |
Anthony Pollina (I/P) |
Gaye Symington (D) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| WCAX[6] | October 28, 2008 | 47% | 23% | 24% |
| Rasmussen[7] | October 10, 2008 | 45% | 25% | 20% |
Results for governor
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Jim Douglas (incumbent) | 170,492 | 53.4 | −3.0 | |
| Independent | Anthony Pollina | 69,791 | 21.8 | n/a | |
| Democratic | Gaye Symington | 69,534 | 21.7 | −19.5 | |
| Independent | Tony O'Connor | 3,106 | 0.9 | n/a | |
| Independent | Sam Young | 2,490 | 0.7 | n/a | |
| Liberty Union | Pete Diamondstone | 1,710 | 0.5 | +0.3 | |
| Independent | Cris Ericson | 1,704 | 0.5 | −0.4 | |
| write-ins | 258 | 0.0 | n/a | ||
| Majority | 100,701 | 31.6 | |||
| Turnout | 319,085 | ||||
| Republican hold | Swing | ||||
Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican
- Windham (largest municipality: Brattleboro)
Results for lieutenant governor
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Brian Dubie (incumbent) | 171,744 | 55.0 | +3.8 | |
| Democratic | Thomas Costello | 121,953 | 39.1 | −6.4 | |
| Progressive | Richard Kemp | 14,249 | 4.5 | +2.3 | |
| Liberty Union | Ben Mitchell | 3,639 | 1.1 | −0.1 | |
| write-ins | 207 | 0.0 | n/a | ||
| Majority | 49,791 | 15.9 | +10.2 | ||
| Turnout | 311,792 | ||||
| Republican hold | Swing | ||||
See also
References
- ^ 2008 Critical Election Dates Archived 2008-06-25 at the Wayback Machine Vermont Secretary of State
- ^ "2008 Governor Race ratings". The Cook Political Report. Retrieved March 4, 2021.
- ^ "2008 Gubernatorial Ratings". Gubernatorial Ratings. The Rothenberg Political Report. Retrieved May 25, 2021.
- ^ "THE LAST LAST WORD The Crystal Ball's Final Projections for the 2008 Election". Sabato's Crystal Ball. Retrieved December 25, 2021.
- ^ "2008 Vermont Governor Race". RealClearPolitics. November 4, 2008. Retrieved March 8, 2021.
- ^ WCAX
- ^ Rasmussen
External links
- Elections & Campaign Finance Division from the Vermont Secretary of State
- Vermont Governor candidates at Project Vote Smart
- Vermont Governor race from OurCampaigns.com
- Vermont Governor race from 2008 Race Tracker
- Campaign contributions[permanent dead link] from Follow the Money
- Official campaign websites (archived):
- Jim Douglas, Republican incumbent candidate
- Anthony Pollina, Independent candidate
- Gaye Symington, Democratic candidate
- Sam Young, Independent candidate