Well, December 15th has come and gone and with it, the final campaign finance reporting deadline of the 2024 campaign cycle. (If you’re a candidate or campaign manager reading this and you *haven’t* filed your final report yet, I’m going to sit hear and arch my eyebrows at you until you go do that. You’ve filed your report? Very good, the #vtpoli nerds of the world salute you).
With all of that said, it’s time to take one last look at the campaign finance reports. According to the VTSOS campaign finance portal, campaigns, candidates, and PACS reported expenditures of $5,766,469.95 this cycle. That figure includes every candidate from Governor right on down to Justice of the Peace, and does not include figures from the thrilling federal races between Bernie Sanders lookalike contest winner Sen. Bernie Sanders and DEPLOY MALLOY and Rep. Becca Balint and Mark Coester.
While the SOS system might not be flawless (and we await its replacement from January 3rd-6th with bated breath), this appears to be a significant drop-off from the last few cycles. 2022, 2020, and 2018 all saw about $6.5 million in reported spending. 2016 saw almost $20 million in spending because of massive outside interest in the hotly contested governor’s race. Ah, hotly contested governor’s races, weren’t those fun?
Of course, that topline figure doesn’t tell us very much. Let’s delve a little deeper, shall we?
The Statewides
Let’s start with the gubernatorial contest, which incumbent Republican Phil Scott won by a whopping 52 points, the largest margin of victory in a gubernatorial contest since 1946, when Republican Ernest Gibson, Jr. trounced future Chelsea State Rep. Berthold C. Coburn 80-19. Fellow nerds, please correct me if I’m mistaken.
According to the Governor’s final report, he raised $350k on top of the $350k he already had in the bank and spent almost $500,000, almost $300k more than he spent in 2022. Clearly, this big expenditure paid off for him, as he was able to demolish Democratic supermajorities in both chambers of the General Assembly. His opponent, Esther Charlestin, hasn’t filed a final report yet but as of November 1 had raised $56,000 and spent $48,000.
In the LG contest, incumbent David Zuckerman raised $233k and spent $209k. His opponent, Lt. Gov.-Elect John Rodgers, raised $217k and spent $284k, which by my math leaves him $68,000 in debt (which, incidentally, is about $10k less than the LG’s annual salary). I can’t deny, this one has me scratching my head a little. I’m not a campaign finance or legal expert, so if you understand a) how this is possible and b) how this is legal, please sound off in the comments or in my replies, I’m curious to learn.
We’ll run quickly through the other statewides. The only GOP candidate to file a Dec. 15th report was AG nominee Ture Nelson, who raised about $25k from himself and spent all of it. One of his final expenditures was to support a program called “World Santa” by the Central Vermont Rotary…which…look at this man…seems very appropriate.
Of the three Democratic statewide officeholders (and possible 2026 gubernatorial candidates should Scott retire), first place went to Treasurer Mike Pieciak, who raised $386k and spent $202k, which leaves him with a formidable WAR CHEST (obligatory war chest reference) for a potential future bid for the top job. AG Charity Clark raised $122k and spent $53k, which also leaves her with a sizable chunk of cash to kick off a run for higher office. Secretary of State Sarah Copeland Hanzas brought up the rear, raising $44k and spending $41k.
The Legislature
Neither you nor I have time for me to wade through the campaign finance filings for every candidate for all 180 seats in the General Assembly. Instead of doing that, I’m going to present a list of the top ten highest spending candidates and most expensive races for both the Senate and the House. These are based on the most recent reports filed as of 12/18/24, the date this article was written. It’s also very possible that I’ll miss something amid the hundreds of PDFs I’m currently downloading from the campaign finance portal, so please let me know if that’s the case.
The Senate
| Candidate (Party-District) | Amount of $ Spent |
| Pat Brennan (R-Grand Isle) | 80,391.71 |
| Katherine Sims (D-Orleans) | 73,734.45 |
| Scott Beck (R-Caledonia) | 64,057.09 |
| Andy Julow (D-Grand Isle) | 58,527.55 |
| Steven Heffernan (R-Addison) | 50,241.24 |
| Chris Bray (D-Addison) | 47,836.66 |
| Andrea Murray (R-Windsor) | 41,618.85 |
| Amanda Cochrane (D-Caledonia) | 41,258.59 |
| Larry Hart (R-Orange) | 32,782.38 |
| Seth Bongartz (D-Bennington) | 29,586.82 |
The House
| Candidate (Party-District) | Amount of $ Spent |
| Elizabeth Brown (D-WAS-CHI)* | 28,194.96 |
| Joe Luneau (R-FRA-3) | 26,849.17 |
| Mike Rice (D-BEN-RUT) | 23,638.37 |
| Emilie Kornheiser (D-WDH-7) | 19,754.97 |
| Amanda Ellis-Thurber (D-WDH-7)* | 16,904.85 |
| Leland Morgan (R-GI-CHI) | 15,418.65 |
| Michael Morgan (R-GI-CHI) | 14,621.15 |
| Tom Stevens (D-WAS-CHI) | 14,512.77 |
| Abbey Duke (D-CHI-17) | 14,366.20 |
| Josie Leavitt (D-GI-CHI) | 14,228.14 |
| Missa Aloisi (P-CHI-17) | 12,343.81 |
*lost in primary
Many thanks to my co-conspirators Will Kolb and Hudson Ranney for their help in digging through the House filings.
I’m pretty sure that the most expensive races in the state were Addison for the Senate (once you include Hardy and Cochran who didn’t make the top ten but also spent prodigiously) and Grand Isle-Chittenden for the House (Washington-Chittenden if you include the primary), but please feel free to check my math on that.
And that’s a wrap on the final round of campaign finance reports and (probably) on Sugaring Off’s 2024 election coverage! We’ll be back in the new year to talk about the new legislative session, Town Meeting Day, and, if I’m really feeling wild, some rampant speculation about what might go down in 2026. Thank you all for your readership, support, opinions, and criticisms this year! It’s certainly been a wild ride in the world of Vermont politics, and I for one can’t wait to see what the new year and new legislature have in store. Have a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Holidays, Happy New Year, and all that, and I’ll see you in 2025!
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