2018 United States Senate election in Vermont


The 2018 United States Senate election in Vermont was held November 6, 2018, alongside a gubernatorial election, U.S. House election, and other state and local elections. Incumbent independent Senator Bernie Sanders was re-elected to a third term. The primaries were held on August 14.

Background

Two-term independent Senator Bernie Sanders was reelected with 71% of the vote in 2012. Sanders, a former candidate for president in the 2016 election and one of three independent members of Congress, is a self-described democratic socialist.
Sanders has caucused with the Democratic Party since taking office in 2007, and he is the Ranking Member of the Budget Committee. He was 77 years old in 2018. Sanders ran for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination. After losing, he announced that he would return to the Senate as an independent, and later stated that he would run for reelection as an independent in 2018.

Independents

Candidates

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee

Post-primary

H. Brooke Paige, who also won the Republican nominations for U.S. House, state Attorney General, state Secretary of State, state Treasurer and state Auditor, withdrew from all but the Secretary of State race on August 24 in order to allow the Vermont Republican Party to name replacement candidates. The Vermont Republican Party picked Lawrence Zupan, who came in 2nd place in the primary, to be the Republican nominee.

General election

Predictions

*Highest rating given

Polling

Results

Sanders won re-election with 67.3% of the vote against eight other candidates.