Independents Also Elected to Legislature in South Dakota, Maine, and Vermont

Blog posts in the last two days have covered cases in which independent candidates were elected on November 4 to state legislatures in Wisconsin, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. Also minor parties elected members in Vermont and Arkansas.

In addition, an independent was elected to the South Dakota State Senate, the first time that has happened since 1964. However, the winner, Tom Dempster of Sioux Falls, is actually a registered Republican who failed to file in time for the Republican primary. Fortunately for him, South Dakota has no laws that prevented him from then petitioning as an independent candidate. He defeated his Democratic opponent 5,108 to 4,660.

In Maine, independent House member Thomas Saviello was re-elected as an independent, in the 90th district in Wilton. He easily defeated his only opponent, Democratic nominee Maxine Collins.

In Vermont, besides the Progressives, three independents were elected or re-elected to the State House. Details are lacking on who they are; if anyone knows, please comment. The National Conference of State Legislatures is the source of the information that three independents as well as four Progressives were elected to the Vermont House on November 4.


Comments

Independents Also Elected to Legislature in South Dakota, Maine, and Vermont — 1 Comment

  1. Will Stevens and John Hill are running in Addison-Rutland 1. Both are Independents, which is probably the only race without either major party outside of Nebraska (and the Carroll district in Arkansas, which is a longer story)

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