Upper Valley races for seats in the Vermont House and Senate are taking shape with the passing the candidate filing deadline last week.
Primaries will be held on Aug. 9, and the general election is set for Nov. 8.
While the secretary of state’s website says additional candidates could be added, most area races have at least one declared hopeful.
In the Windsor-Orange 2 House district, which includes Norwich, Strafford, Thetford and Sharon, three Democrats and a Republican are competing for the two seats.
Tim Briglin, a longtime Democrat representative from Thetford, has chosen not to run for reelection, but his fellow incumbent, Jim Masland, also a Democrat from Thetford, has plenty of company on the ballot.
Masland is joined by Democrats Diedre “Dee” Gish, of Sharon, and Rebecca Holcombe, of Norwich. The lone Republican candidate is Bill T. Huff, of Thetford.
Another a three-way race between Democrats competing for two seats is in Windsor 6, which includes most of the town of Hartford and was newly created with redistricting.
Rebecca White and Kevin “Coach” Christie of Hartford are incumbents in the Windsor 4-2 district, which will no longer exist.
White has chosen to pursue a seat in the state Senate, leaving Christie to be joined by fellow Democrats Nicholas Bramlage and Esme Cole, both of Hartford.
There were no Republican candidates as of Wednesday afternoon.
A few seats are uncontested, such as Windsor-Orange 1, where incumbent John O’Brien, of Tunbridge, does not have declared opposition.
In Windsor 4, Heather Surprenant, D-Barnard, is running for reelection without any declared opposition, as is John Arrison, D-Weathersfield, in Windsor 2. And Tesha Buss, D-Woodstock, was the lone declared candidate for the Woodstock-based Windsor 5 seat.
In the Windsor-Addison district, Kirk White, D-Bethel, is the lone candidate.
In Spingfield-based Windsor 3, Alice Emmons and Kristi Morris, both Democrats, will face Judy Stern in a race for two seats.
Several Upper Valley incumbents are seeking higher office, including White and state Reps. Charlie Kimbell and Sarah Copeland Hanzas.
Hanzas, a Bradford Democrat, is hoping to become the next secretary of state with the retirement of Jim Condos.
Competing to replace Hanzas in the single-seat Orange 2 district are Lance Mills, D-Fairlee, and Monique Priestley, D-Bradford .
Kimbell, D-Woodstock, is running for lieutenant governor.
On the Senate side, it’s going to be a busy ballot for the Windsor Senate seat.
Incumbent Alice Nitka is not running for reelection for the three-seat district, but incumbents Dick McCormack, D-Bethel, and Alison Clarkson, D-Woodstock, are.
They’ll be joined by Rebecca White, D-Hartford, and Christopher Morrow, D-Weston. One of the four Democrats will be eliminated in the August primary.
On the Republicans’ primary ballot, there will be Dana Colson Jr., R-Sharon, and Alice Flanders, R-Hartford.
The Orange senate district, John Klar, R-Brookfield, will square off with Mark A. Macdonald, D-Williamstown.
In the Caledonia Senate district, which includes Newbury, JT Dodge, R-Newbury has filed to face Jane Kitchel, D-Danville.
According to the Secretary of State website, the major party candidates had until May 26 to file their candidacy consent forms in order to appear on the primary ballot for the Aug. 9 primary election.
Major party candidates can still be nominated by the party committee and appear on this year’s general election ballot if paperwork is filed by Aug. 15.
Minor party candidates are nominated by the party committee for the general election. Paperwork for minor parties must be filed with the secretary of state by Aug 4.
Independent candidates who want to appear on the general election ballot must file appropriate paperwork by Aug. 4.
Darren Marcy can be reached at dmarcy@vnews.com or 802-291-4992.
Candidate filings listed on the Vermont secretary of state’s website are qualified candidates with some town clerks still working to certify petition signatures so not all declared candidates have been qualified.
The list was current as of Tuesday afternoon.
Carl Demrow, D-Corinth
Samantha Lefebvre, R-Orange
Lance Mills, D-Fairlee
Monique Priestley, D-Bradford
Rodney Graham, R-Williamstown
Seth Keighley, D-Williamstown
Joe Parsons, R-Newbury
Kelsey Root-Winchester, D-Newbury
Jay Hooper, D-Randolph
Jackie Klar, R-Brookfield
Larry Satcowitz, D-Randolph
Wayne D. Townsend, R-Randolph
John Bartholomew, De-Hartland
Paul S. Belaski, D-Windsor
Elizabeth Burrows, D-West Windsor
John Arrison, D-Weathersfield
Alice M. Emmons, D-Springfield
Kristi C. Morris, D-Springfield
Judy Stern, R-Springfield
Heather Surprenant, D-Barnard
Tesha Buss, D-Woodstock
Nicholas Bramlage, D-Hartford
Kevin “Coach” Christie, D-Hartford
Esme Cole, D-Hartford
Kirk White, D-Bethel
John O’Brien, D-Tunbridge
Diedre “Dee” Gish, D-Sharon
Rebecca Holcombe, D-Norwich
Bill T. Huff, R-Thetford
Jim Masland, D-Thetford
JT Dodge, R-Newbury
Jane Kitchel, D-Danville
John Klar, R-Brookfield
Mark A. Macdonald, D-Williamstown
Alison H. Clarkson, D-Woodstock
Dana Colson Jr., R-Sharon
Alice Flanders, R-Hartford
Richard “Dick” McCormack, D-Bethel
Christopher Morrow, D-Weston
Becca White, D-Hartford
