United States Senate elections in Vermont, 2012

Voters in Vermont elected one member to the U.S. Senate in the November 6, 2012 elections.

Incumbent Bernie Sanders (I) won re-election on November 6, 2012.^[1]

Candidate Filing Deadline	Primary Election	General Election
June 14, 2012	August 28, 2012	November 6, 2012

Primary: Vermont has an open primary system, in which any registered voter can choose which party's primary to vote in, without having to be a member of that party.

Voter registration: Voters were required to register to vote in the primary by August 22, 2012. For the general election, the voter registration deadline was October 31, 2012.^[2]

See also: Vermont elections, 2012

Incumbent: The election filled the Class 1 Senate seat, which was held by Bernie Sanders (I). First elected in 2006, Sanders ran for re-election in 2012. Sanders caucused with the Democrats but was officially an Independent.

Candidates

Note: Election results were added on election night as races were called. Vote totals were added after official election results had been certified. Click here for more information about Ballotpedia's election coverage plan. Please contact us about errors in this list.

General election candidates

Bernie Sanders

John MacGovern

Cris Ericson

Laurel LaFramboise

Peter Moss

Pete Diamondstone

August 28, 2012, primary results

Election results

General Election

U.S. Senate, Vermont, General Election, 2012

Party	Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Independent	Bernie Sanders Incumbent	71.1%	207,848
	Republican	John MacGovern	24.9%	72,898
	Third	Cris Ericson	2%	5,924
	Third	Laurel LaFramboise	0.3%	877
	Third	Peter Moss	0.8%	2,452
	Third	Pete Diamondstone	0.9%	2,511
Total Votes	292,510
Source: Vermont Board of Elections "Official Election Results, 2012 General Election"

Race background

Incumbent Bernie Sanders (I), first elected to his Senate seat in 2006, sought re-election in 2012. Sanders caucused with the Democrats but is officially an Independent. He ran unopposed in the Democratic primary, and faced Republican primary nominee John MacGovern in the general election, as well as minor-party candidates Cris Ericson, Laurel LaFramboise, Peter Moss, and Pete Diamondstone.

Competitiveness

According to The New York Times' analysis of the 2012 Senate elections, the Vermont Senate race was rated as solid Democratic heading into November's general election.^[4]

Race rating

Cook Political Report

Each month the Cook Political Report released race ratings for President, U.S. Senate, U.S. House (competitive only) and Governors. There were seven possible designations:^[5]

Solid Democratic      Likely Democratic      Lean Democratic

Tossup

Lean Republican      Likely Republican      Solid Republican

Cook Political Report Race Rating -- Vermont Senate
Month	Rating
October 4, 2012[6]
September 13, 2012[7]
August 21, 2012[8]
July 12, 2012[9]
May 31, 2012[10]
May 10, 2012[11]
March 22, 2012[12]
March 1, 2012[13]
January 26, 2012[14]
December 22, 2011[15]
December 1, 2011[16]

Campaign contributions

Bernie Sanders

Bernie Sanders Campaign Finance Reports
Report	Date Filed	Beginning Balance	Total Contributions for Reporting Period	Expenditures	Cash on Hand
April Quarterly[17]	April 10, 2012	$2,938,691.31	$950,336.11	$(281,427.23)	$3,607,600.19
July Quarterly[18]	July 12, 2012	$3,607,600.19	$851,033.10	$(406,079.06)	$4,052,554.23
			Running totals
			$1,801,369.21	$(687,506.29)

John MacGovern

John MacGovern Campaign Finance Reports
Report	Date Filed	Beginning Balance	Total Contributions for Reporting Period	Expenditures	Cash on Hand
April Quarterly[19]	April 13, 2012	$0.00	$12,882.28	$(21.00)	$12,667.28
			Running totals
			$12,882.28	$(21)

Election history

2006

On November 7, 2006, Bernie Sanders won election to the U.S. Senate, defeating Rich Tarrant (R), Cris Ericson (I), Craig Hill (Vermont Green), Pete Diamondstone (Liberty Union), Peter Moss (Anti-Bushist Candidate), and a write-in.^[20]

U.S. Senate, Vermont, 2006
Party	Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Independent	Bernard Sanders	65.4%	171,638
	Republican	Rich Tarrant	32.4%	84,924
	Independent	Cris Ericson	0.7%	1,735
	Vermont Green	Craig Hill	0.6%	1,536
	Liberty Union	Pete Diamondstone	0.3%	801
	Anti-Bushist	Peter Moss	0.6%	1,518
	Write-in	Write-in	0.1%	267
Total Votes	262,419

See also

• United States House of Representatives elections in Vermont, 2012
• United States Senate elections, 2012

Footnotes