November 4, 2026 | By Eric Blaisdell | The Times ArgusThis story was first published by The Times Argus on Nov. 3.
MONTPELIER — The three incumbents representing Washington County and the towns of Braintree, Orange and Stowe in the Vermont Senate all kept their seats in the Vermont Senate, according to unofficial results.
Democrat Ann Cummings, of Montpelier, was elected to her 16th term. Cummings had the most votes Tuesday night, with 19,891.
Democrat/Progressive Anne Watson, of Barre, was elected to her third term. She had the second most votes with 18,110.
Democrat/Progressive Andrew Perchlik, of Marshfield, was elected to his fifth term. He came in third for three seats with a vote total of 17,310.
The three incumbents were challenged by three Republicans.
Montpelier resident Rob LaClair, a former member of the Vermont House, had the fourth most votes with 10.268.
Chris Neddo, of Barre Town, had the fifth most votes with 9,353.
And Peter Schmeeckle had the sixth most votes with 8,034.
Cummings said in an interview she was grateful to the voters for electing her to another term. She said residents have supported her for a long time and she can’t state just how much she appreciates it.
“I love what I do, and I want to keep, now more than ever, maintaining democracy and giving everyone a chance to be heard,” she said.
She said the next two years will be a challenge as the state expects to see a reduction in federal dollars. Cummings said the state faces serious affordability challenges.
It appeared Democrats were on their way to a supermajority following Tuesday’s election. As a Democrat, Cummings said that’s great news. But for democracy, she said she wasn’t so sure if that make up would be a good thing. She said democracy depends on everyone having a voice and people are seeing the negative results of a supermajority on the federal level.
Watson said in an interview she, too, was grateful for the support of the voters. She also thanked all the candidates who ran. She said running for public office “can be a lot” and it’s good for democracy when voters have choices.
“I’m excited to represent the Washington District again,” she said.
Watson said over the next two years, she’s going to work on protecting democracy, building more housing and protecting the environment, while also working on bringing property taxes down.
Perchlik said he was thankful to the voters for allowing him to keep serving.
He said previously he was going to run for president pro tempore of the Senate, a position held by Phil Baruth, who did not seek reelection. Following his victory Tuesday, Perchlik said he has the votes to secure that position. With a supermajority of Democrats possible in the Legislature and an expected Republican governor, he said he’s worked well with Gov. Phil Scott in the past, but it’ll be a different environment this time.
He said it won’t be easy trying to bring everyone together with a supermajority because a bigger tent means more ideological diversity. But depending on how the Legislature shakes out, he said there may be enough Democrats to support legislation where losing two or three votes won’t kill the effort and Democrats would still be able to override the Governor’s veto.
“As the pro tem, we’ll have to see how people show up and how we work on the things we said we were going to work on,” he said, citing issues with affordability and housing impacting the state.