Who backed whom in the statewide elections

Barre Mayor Thom Lauzon backed Gov. Peter Shumlin in a press conference with the state’s mayors this fall. Photo by Anne Galloway

What do Democrat Gov. Peter Shumlin and Republican candidate for state treasurer Wendy Wilton have in common?

They are both endorsed by the National Rifle Association.

This example is one of many in which endorsements to statewide candidates buck party lines. The Vermont State Employees Association, for instance, endorsed the Democratic candidates for governor, lieutenant governor and treasurer, and also endorsed Republican candidate for auditor Vince Illuzzi and indpendent candidate for attorney general Ed Stanak, who previously ran the union as president.

Politicians showed a range of support, too. Barre Mayor Thom Lauzon openly endorsed Shumlin and, just like the NRA, endorsed Wilton — the two have vastly different views of how the state ought to run.

Many newspapers also danced to the beat of bipartisan endorsements, depending on the race. The Burlington Free Press and the Barre-Montpelier Times Argus both endorsed Shumlin and Democratic candidate for treasurer Beth Pearce, while also endorsing Republicans Illuzzi for auditor and Phil Scott for lieutenant governor.

One guy who got the short end of the press stick this election is Democratic candidate for auditor Doug Hoffer. While eight newspapers backed his opponent, Illuzzi, Hoffer didn’t receive a single media endorsement. As the liberal blog Green Mountain Daily pointed out, the Burlington Free Press and the Times Argus took their 2010 endorsements of Hoffer and threw them out the window for Illuzzi, who held a state Senate seat for 32 years.

While Hoffer is indignant about key newspapers endorsing his opponent, he said he has two important endorsements that Illuzzi doesn’t.

“My opponent has organizations like the Vermont Association of Realtors and Vermont Professional Archaeologists’ Association,” Hoffer said. “I’ll trade you 10 of those for one Sen. Bernie Sanders and another 10 for one Gov. Shumlin.”

So, how important are these endorsements?

We asked Vermont’s godfather of wonk, former Middlebury College political science professor Eric Davis. His answer: It depends on the race and the endorsement.

“My view is that for congressional positions and governor, newspaper endorsements don’t matter much because the candidates are well known,” he said. “But in down ticket and legislative races where they aren’t as well known, I think it can make a difference.”

In the race for state auditor and treasurer, he thinks newspaper endorsements could have an effect. In the race for treasurer, for example, Pearce has seven newspaper endorsements to Wilton’s three.

The political endorsements Hoffer has, however, could give him a boost. According to Davis’ theory, the endorsements of current, top-tier politicians is more important than those of former office holders.

“If a sitting governor, House member or sitting senator endorses someone, I think that counts for something because it shows that the office holder will put some of his or her prestige on the line for the candidate,” he said. “While there’s a certain prestige factor with getting an ex-governor voting for you, once someone leaves office I’m not sure how much they can swing voters.

While Davis said union and organization endorsements could propel a campaign to victory, elections aren’t won based solely on support from these organizations.

“I think they matter more if an organization has a lot of members and is able to turn out members or are working hard on behalf of candidates,” Davis said. “The unions would certainly fall into that category, especially the NEA, the VSEA and the AFL-CIO.” The Professional Firefighters of Vermont is also known for turning out large numbers of volunteers, “and the candidates they endorse tend to win.”

But the real question is: Who’s endorsing whom? To answer that, VTDigger scoured candidate websites, social media handles and past press releases for any and all endorsements issued, as well as called the candidates and their campaign managers. And we got a bit of help from Seven Days’ Paul Heintz, thanks to his thorough rundown of newspaper endorsements.

On the Election Day eve, we hope you enjoy this hefty list of endorsements for 11 candidates running for five statewide offices.