Democrats expected to lose supermajority in Vt. House

BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) - Governor Scott is celebrating a big win in Vermont - and he will have a lot more support in the legislature for the next biennium.

The numbers are still coming in as of Wednesday morning, but Republicans already have 52 seats - that is 15 more than they held in the last biennium - and would deprive Democrats of the supermajority they held in the last two years.

If these numbers hold, things could look very different in the statehouse.

Many of the decisions we see come out of the statehouse under a democratic supermajority might not see the light of day under Governor Scott's secured fifth term in office.

In this legislative session, the House and Senate Democratic supermajority overrode several Scott vetoes.

That includes bills that increase property taxes, require state utilities to shift to renewable energy, and reform state development.

Political analysts say bills like this might not become law without a Democratic supermajority.

"A lot of the vetoes that Phil Scott might make would be sustained. That is, the legislature could not override them," said Bert Johnson of Middlebury College.

A potential supermajority shift is especially important given how many bills Governor Scott vetoes - twice as many as any previous governor.

Vermont legislature made history this year by successfully overriding six vetoes in one day. We may not see that kind of democratic sway in the statehouse post-election.

We're still waiting to confirm current state Senate and House seats, but if they hold, it will break the democratic supermajority.