Minter ran for the Vermont House of Representatives in 2004, representing the Washington-Chittenden-1 district. She won, and was reelected for four terms. She served on the Transportation and Appropriations committees, in positions which emphasized budgeting over policy-making, and earned a reputation as a "solid" but not "ultra-liberal" Democrat with a good understanding of complex budget issues.
Vermont Agency of Transportation
, the Governor of Vermont, appointed Minter as Deputy Secretary of the Vermont Agency of Transportation in January 2011. Following Tropical Storm Irene, Shumlin appointed Neale Lunderville to lead Vermont's recovery efforts, and four months later named Minter to replace him. Minter was praised for her leadership as chief recovery officer. She later served on President Barack Obama's Task Force on Climate Preparedness and Resilience, co-chaired the White House Task Force Subcommittee on Disaster Recovery and Resilience, and led a Vermont team which assisted with Colorado's response to major flooding in 2013. Minter became Secretary of VTrans on January 1, 2015, following the retirement of Brian Searles. In response to an August workplace discrimination lawsuit against VTrans, she boosted employee training in harassment prevention and established an affirmative-action task force.
Candidate for governor
In September 2015, Minter resigned from her position at VTrans to run for governor in the 2016 gubernatorial election. Minter's former House colleagues described her as left-of-center and praised her as a "good Democrat" with a talent for understanding complicated budget issues, but questioned her preparedness for a gubernatorial run. Minter was endorsed by former Vermont Governors Madeleine Kunin, Howard Dean and Phil Hoff; former Lieutenant GovernorDoug Racine; and former State Representative Jason Lorber; along with 52 current legislators and 25 more former legislators, as well as the pro-choice Democratic group EMILY's List. Environmentalist Bill McKibben initially supported her rival Matt Dunne, but switched his support to Minter after Dunne revised his position on wind power. Minter proposed job creation efforts involving strategic investments in infrastructure and housing, as well as industry-government collaboration to promote the technology, energy, and agricultural sectors. Her proposed "Vermont Promise" initiative would have paid for Vermont high school graduates to attend the Community College of Vermont or Vermont Technical College for two years for free, and for half of the current price afterwards. Minter believes Vermont's pension fund should divest from coal holdings because they are "bad for our economy and bad for our environment." Minter followed her rival Matt Dunne in rejecting campaign contributions from corporations, writing "Whether you are a multimillionaire or a major corporation, you shouldn't be able to buy the governor's office." After the 2015 Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood shooting, she called for universal background checks on gun sales in Vermont, a position later taken up by her rivals. She also supports a ban on assault weapons. On August 9, Minter won the Democratic Party nomination for governor, defeating Dunne and Peter Galbraith in the primary election. She faced Republican Phil Scott, the Lieutenant Governor of Vermont, in the November general election. Minter lost to Scott, 52% to 44%.
