Christina Nolan announces Republican bid for U.S. Senate, Feb. 22

By Lola Duffort/VTDigger

Christina Nolan, the former U.S. attorney for Vermont, is running for the U.S. Senate as a Republican.

She formally announced her candidacy Tuesday, Feb. 22, in an exclusive interview with Fox News and released a 3-minute campaign video.

“I think it’s a blessing and a privilege to have been born in Vermont, to have been raised in Vermont and to call myself a Vermonter. That privilege and that blessing — which I did nothing to earn, I just got lucky — has called me to public service and to give back to the state that gave me so much,” she said in the clip.

Nolan is the first major Republican figure to enter the race to replace outgoing U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt. If she were to prevail in the primary, she would likely face off in the general election against U.S. Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., who is overwhelmingly favored to win the Democratic nomination.

Nolan was named Vermont’s top federal prosecutor in 2017 by President Donald Trump with bipartisan recommendations from Gov. Phil Scott and Leahy. She was the first woman to hold the post in Vermont.