Democratic lawmakers have officially made their leadership picks for the upcoming biennium. On Saturday morning, House Democrats selected their majority leader, whip and assistant majority leaders, and nominated their choice for Speaker of the House. Rep. Lori Houghton (D-Essex Junction), a four-time representative and chair of her chamber's health care committee, secured the House majority leader role. Houghton replaced Rep. Emily Long (D-Windham), who chose not to seek the position again. Rep. Karen Dolan (D-Essex Junction), who has served since 2021, was selected as whip, or the majority leader's second-in-command. Dolan replaced Rep. Kathleen James (D-Manchester), who, like Long, did not run for another term in the role. House Democrats also picked two assistant majority leaders: Reps. Heather Surprenant (D-Barnard) and Mary-Katherine Stone (D/P-Burlington). Additionally, House Democrats nominated incumbent Rep. Jill Krowinski (D-Burlington) for a third term as Speaker of the House, one of the most powerful seats in Montpelier, on Saturday.
Which positions are still up in the air?
Houghton, Dolan, Surprenant and Stone join Senate Majority Leader Kesha Ram Hinsdale (D-Burlington-Southeast) and Senate Whip Becca White (D-Windsor) —
who were selected by their colleagues last month — as official heads of the Democratic Party in Montpelier. Krowinski, however, joins Sens. Phil Baruth (D/P-Burlington) and Ginny Lyons (D-Chittenden-Southeast) — Democratic nominees for president pro tempore and the third member on the Committee on Committees, respectively — in waiting for confirmation from their chamber peers at the start of the session in January. Whether Krowinski, Baruth and Lyons will receive enough votes to assume the positions for which they were nominated remains unclear now that
both the House and Senate are much more politically diverse . Krowinski, in particular, faces a tough re-election fight. Krowinski is the only nominee currently with a challenger: five-time Rep. Laura Sibilia (I-Dover), who, despite her status as an Independent, has managed to wrangle some Democratic support. On Saturday, Democratic supporters of Sibilia further legitimized the Dover Independent as a substantial threat to Krowinski when they attempted to submit Sibilia's name for consideration as the Democratic nominee for Speaker. In response, House Democrats voted 60-18 to prevent non-Democrats from vying for the party's nomination, allowing Krowinski to breeze to an easy victory (with only one dissenter) as the Democratic nominee for speaker. Rep. Jay Hooper (D-Randolph), who was the sole dissenting vote against Krowinski's nomination, told the Free Press that Democrats had the chance on Saturday to uncover how much support Sibilia possesses from fellow party members by allowing her to vie for the party's nomination for Speaker, but chose instead to "keep the mystery" until the confirmation vote in January. If the 18 votes cast in favor of her participation in the nomination process are any indication of Sibilia's support among Democrats, then Sibilia would likely have enough votes to win the Speakership — assuming she acquired support from Republicans, of course — but because House Democrats blocked it, "we just don't know," Hooper said. Saturday's events "shows if anything that one camp is confident and the other is timid," Hooper added.
