2008 Vermont gubernatorial election

For related races, see 2008 United States gubernatorial elections.

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.

2008 Vermont gubernatorial election

← 2006 November 4, 2008 2010 →

Nominee Jim Douglas Anthony Pollina Gaye Symington Party Republican Independent Democratic Popular vote 170,492 69,791 69,534 Percentage 53.4% 21.8% 21.7%

County results Municipality results 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%

Governor before election Jim Douglas Republican Elected Governor Jim Douglas Republican

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. This is 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

^[1]

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)
	October 28, 2008	47%	23%	24%
	October 10, 2008	45%	25%	20%

Results for Governor

2008 Vermont gubernatorial election

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

2008 Vermont Lieutenant Governor general election

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

• 2008 United States presidential election in Vermont

References

1. 2008 Critical Election Dates 2008-06-25 at the Wayback Machine Vermont Secretary of State
2. "2008 Governor Race ratings". The Cook Political Report. Retrieved March 4, 2021.
3. "2008 Gubernatorial Ratings". Gubernatorial Ratings. The Rothenberg Political Report. Retrieved May 25, 2021.
4. "THE LAST LAST WORD The Crystal Ball's Final Projections for the 2008 Election". Sabato's Crystal Ball. Retrieved December 25, 2021.
5. "2008 Vermont Governor Race". RealClearPolitics. November 4, 2008. Retrieved March 8, 2021.

External links

• from the Vermont Secretary of State
• Vermont Governor candidates at Project Vote Smart
• Vermont Governor race from OurCampaigns.com
• from 2008 Race Tracker
• Campaign contributions^{[permanent dead link]} from Follow the Money
• Official campaign websites (archived):
  • , Republican incumbent candidate
  • , Independent candidate
  • , Democratic candidate
  • , Independent candidate