It was over before the shouting. Or the talking, for that matter. In retrospect, it was probably over from square one. At its organizing session Wednesday morning, the House re-elected Democratic Rep. Jill Krowinski as House Speaker by a lopsided 111-to-35 margin over independent Rep. Laura Sibilia.

The image above is not the cover for the little known Sergeant Pepper Bureaucrats Club Band album, but a press conference held by House Democrats before the House convened. In a calculated show of solidarity, dozens of Dems squeezed tight behind incoming House Majority Leader Rep. Lori Houghton, who described the caucus’ agenda for the 2025 session. Houghton began the presser by asserting, pointedly, “I am the new House Majority Leader.”

From that moment, there was no doubt that Krowinski would prevail. Unless you beleve that a now permanently hypothetical Speaker Sibilia would have retained Krowinski’s leadership team.

Frankly, all but the tiniest hint of doubt had been removed Tuesday morning when the Dems distributed an email announcing the press conference. I mean, if leadership is unveiling its priorities at a presser immediately preceding the vote for Speaker, then they must have known it was in the bag. How embarrassing would it have been for leadership to unveil its agenda only to be tossed out within a couple of hours?

The presser was more a show of force than an actual, y’know, press conference. Houghton’s statement left time for only three questions before the assembled members had to unpack themselves and head for the House chamber. That was inevitable with only 30 minutes allotted for the whole event. The picture above and Houghton’s opening sentence were the real point.

And then the formalities began. Democratic Rep. Theresa Wood nominated Krowinski and Rep. Tom Burditt, one of the more respected members of the Republican caucus, seconded. That was another nail in the coffin, seeing as how Sibilia needed to pretty much sweep the Republicans in order to win.

There were speeches, most of ’em mercifully brief. A bunch of Democrats spoke for Krowinski, a couple of lawmakers voiced their support for Sibilia, and Republican-turned-independent Rep. Anne Donahue fulminated about the importance of the secret ballot without endorsing either candidate.

It was, indeed, a secret ballot. Took a while to distribute paper ballots to all 150 lawmakers, a while longer to cast the ballots, and a seemingly interminable period of careful counting. And finally the result: Krowinski 111, Sibilia 35*. Ouch.

*There were 137 votes cast, which means that (a) 13 lawmakers opted not to vote at all, and (b) one member voted for someone else.

Last week, VTDigger did a bunch of, well, digging, and identified 21 “non-Republicans” who favored Sibilia or were considering it. That made it seem like Sibilia had an outside shot at winning if she could garner overwhelming Republican support. That turned out to be so much horse hockey. The vast majority of Democrats and Republicans clearly supported Krowinski.

This morning in the cafeteria, a Statehouse observer (whom I will not name because I didn’t seek permission to do so) told me the Republicans were unlikely to break for Sibilia because she had supported the Clean Heat Standard and other climate fighting measures. I guess that observation was correct. (Side note: 55 of the 56 House Republicans are co-sponsoring a bill to repeal the Affordable Heat Act as part of their war on the war on climate change.) Either that, or Republicans saw Krowinski as a wounded leader (and a well-known Burlingtonian to boot) who might make an easier target than Sibilia.

That would be a fair point. Although Krowinski won handily in the end, there were still a substantial number of people willing to kick her to the curb. Most of them are anonymous because secret ballot, but the names we know span the ideological spectrum. It’s not just Democratic rural centrists; it’s some Republicans and a fair number of Progressives, P/Ds and/or D/Ps. This portends caucus-management trouble for a Speaker who will have far less margin of error than she enjoyed in the last biennium.

In her nominating speech, Wood made passing references to mistakes and learning from experience, hinting that Krowinski realizes the need to be more inclusive. Krowinski’s own acceptance speech dropped no such hints. She did talk about collaboration and the need to work on behalf of all Vermonters, but otherwise she echoed the themes put forward by Houghton at the morning presser.

Which listed five top priorities, in this order: (1) Education funding reform to make property taxes less unaffordable while protecting the public schools, (2) Housing, which included the need to provide more housing for all but also stated that “it’s unacceptable that people are sleeping on the streets,” (3) Health care costs and accessibility, (4) Climate resiliency and flood recovery, with no particular mention of fighting climate change, and (5) Making sure the government is working effectively for the people.

I was one of three people who got in a question and, as you might have guessed, I asked about the hundreds of households unsheltered since September due to cuts in the motel voucher program. Houghton offered no specifics, but did say the caucus “will be focused on” addressing Vermont’s shelter shortage. We will await further developments.

There was plenty of other organizational stuff on Wednesday. The House leadership team named their committee chairs and vice chairs, and gave Republicans a fair number of top slots. (Digger has the rundown.) Senate President Pro Tem Phil Baruth was re-elected unanimously after Republican Sen. Randy Brock abandoned his challenge. The Senate can’t name committees until the lieutenant governor — almost certainly Republican John Rodgers — is sworn into office on Thursday because the LG is one of three members of the Senate’s Committee on Committees, which doles out the assignments.

Also Thursday: Gov. Phil Scott’s State of the State address. We’ll see how much actual “coming to the table” he does, and how much kicking the Legislature he indulges in. That speech, more than anything that happened Wednesday, will set the tone for the very difficult session to come.