Independent legislator Laura Sibilia fell short in her bid to become Vermont’s next Speaker of the House, with incumbent Democratic Representative Jill Krowinski winning reelection in a 111-35 vote.
The vote took place Wednesday as the legislature convened to elect its leadership for the upcoming session. As previously reported, Sibilia, who represents the Windham-2 district, had launched an independent bid to unseat Krowinski, who has held the speakership since 2021. Sibilia’s campaign sought to build a cross-party coalition of Democrats, Progressives, independents, and Republicans. However, her effort fell far short of the 75 votes required to win.
With only 85 House Democrats, Krowinski’s victory was bolstered by its own coalition effort that included support from some of Vermont’s 52 Republican lawmakers, given that no Republican candidate entered the race. The remaining House members include nine lawmakers associated with fusion labels and three independents, including Sibilia herself. However, the individual votes of legislators are unlikely to ever be fully revealed, as Vermont uses a secret ballot for its House Speaker elections.
The Vermont House of Representatives has a longstanding tradition of electing Speakers from established political parties, consistently choosing Republicans since before the American Civil War until the 1970s, when Democrats began to make significant gains. Sibilia’s campaign marked the first serious independent challenge for the Speaker’s position in Vermont’s recent history, if not its entire history.
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