Updated at 7:56 p.m.
In a presidential race characterized by uncertainty, one outcome appeared preordained: that Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, would carry Vermont.
The Green Mountain State did not surprise.
By 7 p.m. Tuesday — just as polls closed — the Associated Press called the state for Harris.
Worth just three Electoral College votes out of 538, Vermont was hardly poised to shape the outcome of the election.
The state is nothing if not consistent. It has gone to the Democratic nominee in every presidential election since Republican George H.W. Bush defeated Democrat Michael Dukakis in 1988. In recent cycles, the Democratic nominee has won at least 55% of the vote.
Harris even picked up the support of Vermont’s Republican governor, Phil Scott, who told reporters outside his Berlin polling place late Tuesday afternoon that he had cast his ballot for the Democratic nominee.
Other Harris voters included Rylee Masson, a 21-year-old residence director at the University of Vermont who recently graduated from UVM, and was voting in his first presidential election Tuesday. “I think just having someone who’s so much younger than who we’ve had in the past couple of terms is really important,” he said. Masson added that he thinks Harris “has galvanized and energized the youth vote in a way that hasn’t been seen in a really, really long time. I have a lot of friends who have shown no interest in politics up until this point that are” now engaged.
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In Swanton, 30-year-old Troy Davis said he opted for Harris because “I felt like we need someone new to pick up the pieces. So far the country feels like it’s going through drama … and I wouldn’t mind having a woman as president for the first time.”
Though far fewer in number, Trump supporters also made their voices heard at Vermont polls on Tuesday.
Among them was Norman Boyden, 80, a retired clockmaker from Williston. “Trump is not a perfect person. None of us are. Has he made mistakes? Absolutely. But the other side has made far more mistakes,” Boyden said.
Nick Benson, a 32-year-old firefighter for the city of Barre, also voted for the former Republican president, citing his concerns about government spending, high taxes and rising costs. “I have a four-year-old. I’m nervous about what it’s going to be like when my daughter’s my age,” he said.
Phyllis Hall, a 79-year-old retired Orwell resident, used to vote Republican, but on Tuesday she opted for Harris. “I thought it would be important to try and keep Trump out,” she said. “I like the way Kamala talks. She has good ideas.”
Emma Cotton, Peter D’Auria, Audi Guha and Paul Heintz contributed reporting.
