Hearty congratulations to the Vermont Progressive Party, which is no longer the smallest caucus in the Legislature. That honor now passes to the Libertarian Party, which zoomed all the way from zero to one with the dubious acquisition of first-term Rep. Jarrod Sammis, seen above on his revised legislative webpage.
You might recall Sammis as the only one of the 24 “stealth conservative” Republicans I profiled who actually won last November, thanks in part to the rub he got from Vermont’s Favorite Republican:
Congratulations to Gov. Phil Scott for his endorsement of a guy who lasted… not quite four months as an elected Republican. Brilliant move, sir.
Submitted for your consideration: Jarrod Sammis, Republican candidate for House in the Rutland-3 district and assiduous scrubber of his past social media activity.
There’s good reason for that. Said activity includes a nice helping of far-right ideology and stuff about guns. Lots and lots and lots of guns. Also, hints of militia leanings.
Until reapportionment, Rutland-3 was a two-person district including Castleton, Fair Haven, Hubbardton and West Haven. It was solidly Republican; its representatives are Bob Helm and Bill Canfield, who rarely drew Democratic opposition of any sort. “Rutland-3” is one-seat Castleton now; the other three towns are in other districts. Helm is retiring; Canfield is running in another district.
Since he won the primary in August, Sammis has been a busy bee. He’s appeared at many campaign events with many fellow Republicans including, um:
In future, I’d advise Governor Nice GuyTM to check credentials before letting himself be photographed with a candidate who (being charitable here) he’s never heard of before. It might come back to bite him in the plausibly moderate ass.
Sammis is opposed by Democrat Mary Droege, a credible candidate. But Rutland-3 looks to be Republican territory, which means Mr. Sammis may well be showing up in Montpelier in January. Here’s what he’d bring to the table.