By Adam Davis
The Rutland County Democratic Committee recently held a fundraiser at a private residence in Chittenden in the effort to raise money for local candidates and help turn Rutland County into a solid blue Democratic stronghold. Prominent politicians like Senator Peter Welch and State Treasurer Mike Pieciak spoke alongside known and unknown local politicians with the unifying message of converting Rutland County voters into reliable and consistent Democratic Party supporters.
U.S. Sen. Peter Welch spoke at a Democratic fundraiser in Chittenden on Friday, Sept. 6.
For context, while Rutland County leans Democratic, it traditionally has a strong representation of Republican voters, as well. For instance, in the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections, Republican voters accounted for 42% and 43% of the county’s overall vote, respectively.
Local Democratic candidates are hoping to shrink those numbers in upcoming local and national elections.
Keynote speaker Senator Welch took the microphone first and touched upon multiple subjects like the upcoming election, his call for President Biden to step away from the presidential race, the events of Jan. 6, and how Democratic candidates can win the hearts and minds of Republican and undecided voters in the second most populous county in the state.
“I’m proud to be a Vermont Democrat. There’s a Vermont way that America needs more of. It’s not complicated. We respect our neighbors. We accept differences in opinion. When the house is on fire, you show up if you’re in the volunteer fire department. If your neighbor is in a ditch, you pull them out,” Senator Welch told the gathering of supporters. “We don’t ask for a credential. ‘Who did you vote for?’ We do that because we know that trust in each other is even more important than the Constitution in keeping this Democracy together. You get trust when you give trust. Our impulse is to extend a hand, offer to help, and to try and put yourself in the shoes of another person whether you disagree with them or not.”
“My view about Rutland [County] is if you want to get ahead in Vermont politics, you need to pass the Rutland test,” Welch continued. “If you can win in Rutland, you’re probably going to do well in the rest of the state.”
Local candidates like Representative William Notte (Rutland-7) then took the microphone and spoke of their records and their opponents, as well as the challenges that Democrats face in the certain districts of the county.
“It pains me how many districts we have where there’s a Republican running unopposed,” Notte said. “So I ask those of you that are in such a district to consider supporting House candidates so that we can help turn Rutland County more blue.”
After all the local candidates had their chance to address the crowd, State Treasurer Mike Pieciak spoke at the end of the evening.
“I think the future of Vermont runs through Rutland County and Rutland City. We have a really optimistic vision of the future of our state. We have a growing economy, people are moving here, and we’re expanding our housing stock. We need to do more of all of it. But if we can make that happen here in Rutland, we will be a very successful state over the next decade,” Pieciak said. “The same is true of our politics. If we can win here, we can win across the state. It’s really important to invest in Rutland, and we’re really happy to do so.”
“Our office identified housing as the No. 1 issue in our state. It’s the No. 1 economic and social issue,” Pieciak continued. “So we have to put as many resources from our office as we have to invest in housing. We put $100 million of support in low interest loans for affordable housing throughout the state, that’s 1,100 units of housing total and we want to do even more in my second term.”
