On January 7, 2016

Gov. Peter Shumlin “happy and hitched”

Katie Hunt and Gov. Peter Shumlin were wed on Dec. 15, 2015.

By Anne Galloway, VTDigger.org

Gov. Peter Shumlin, 59, married his longtime girlfriend Katie Hunt, 31, in a small, private ceremony Tuesday night, Dec. 15.

The couple made the announcement in an email to friends and family with the subject line “happy and hitched.”

The governor’s brother and “best dude,” Jeff Shumlin, poured champagne and “best daughters Olivia and Becca cheered us on.” Shumlin’s sister-in-law Evie Lovett officiated.

“In the several months that we were engaged, we considered all wedding options,” Shumlin and Hunt said. “In the end, despite our wishes to have family and friends with us, Katie’s ‘worst nightmare’ of standing before a HUGE crowd at such an intimate time led us to tonight’s ceremony.”

Shumlin and Hunt are now “off for a long weekend of sun and beach.” They return on Monday, Dec. 21.

In an official communication from the governor’s office, Shumlin said: “We are so fortunate to have such a beautiful partnership and to be able to spend the rest of our lives together.”

Hunt and Shumlin were engaged in June. The couple plan to live in Westminster West, a town in Southern Vermont, where they both grew up, after the governor retires from his third term in office January 2017.

Hunt is an undergraduate at Mount Holyoke College and has been the governor’s companion since he took office in 2011, according to Scott Coriell, Shumlin’s press secretary.

Hunt, an artist and landscape gardener, has been described as shy and uninterested in politics. Recently, she began appearing at the Statehouse and political events.

Until last October, the governor kept his relationship with Hunt a secret.

Shumlin is divorced from Deborah Holway, his second wife. His first wife was Preston Parsons.

Do you want to submit feedback to the editor?

Send Us An Email!

Related Posts

Two members, including chair, resign from the Commission on the Future of Public Education in Vermont

June 25, 2025
By Corey McDonald/VTDigger Two members of the Commission on the Future of Public Education in Vermont, including the commission’s chair, announced last week they would be resigning, saying they no longer believed their efforts would make any impact. Meagan Roy, the chair of the commission, and Nicole Mace, the former representative of the Vermont School Boards…

Vt plastic bag use dropped 91% following ban, researchers find

June 25, 2025
In the midst of 2020 Covid measures, another change took place in Vermont: A law went into effect banning businesses from offering plastic bags to customers, with paper bags only available for a fee. A 2023 analysis of a survey of hundreds of Vermonters found the law appeared to have worked. Plastic bag use in…

A Roadmap

June 25, 2025
The Vermont Legislature adjourned Monday evening, June 16, following the passage of H.454, the education reform plan. I call it a roadmap as the legislation lays out a list of changes that will take place over the next few years. And as various studies and reports come back in, there will also likely be adjustments,…

Vermont to get over $21 million in nationwide settlement with Purdue Pharma and the Sacklers

June 25, 2025
Attorney General Charity Clark announced June 16 that all 55 attorneys general, representing all eligible states and U.S. territories, have agreed to sign on to a $7.4 billion settlement with Purdue Pharma and its owners, the Sackler family. This settlement was reached after the previous settlement was rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court. It resolves…