John Rodgers, a former Vermont House and Senate Democrat from Glover, is running for lieutenant governor as a Republican.
“I don’t feel like I left the party. I feel like the party left me,” Rodgers said in an interview Friday, describing himself as a moderate. “I feel closer to Phil Scott than I do the leadership in the Legislature, and that’s what really made me say, ‘Maybe it’s time to just try something different.’”
Rodgers runs a stonework and excavation business, and a hemp and cannabis farm. He served in the Vermont House from 2003 to 2011 and in the Senate from 2013 to 2021. A staunch supporter of gun rights with a reputation for speaking his mind, Rodgers never feared crossing party lines while in the Statehouse.
He’s seeking statewide office six years after a low-key write-in campaign for governor in 2018, this time hoping to unseat incumbent Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman, a Progressive and Democrat who announced his reelection campaign earlier this month. But first, Rodgers will face former lieutenant gubernatorial candidate Gregory Thayer, a Rutland accountant active in Vermont’s conservative political scene. Zuckerman also faces a primary challenger, Winooski Deputy Mayor Thomas Renner.