The 2008 United States House of Representatives election in Vermont was held on November 4, 2008 and determined who represents the state

U.S. state

A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...

 of Vermont

Vermont

Vermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state ranks 43rd in land area, , and 45th in total area. Its population according to the 2010 census, 630,337, is the second smallest in the country, larger only than Wyoming. It is the only New England...

 in the United States House of Representatives

United States House of Representatives

The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...

. Representatives are elected for two-year terms; whoever is elected will serve in the 111th Congress

111th United States Congress

The One Hundred Eleventh United States Congress was the meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government from January 3, 2009 until January 3, 2011. It began during the last two weeks of the George W. Bush administration, with the remainder spanning the first two years of...

 from January 4, 2009 until January 3, 2011. The election coincides with the 2008 U.S. presidential election

United States presidential election, 2008

The United States presidential election of 2008 was the 56th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on November 4, 2008. Democrat Barack Obama, then the junior United States Senator from Illinois, defeated Republican John McCain, the senior U.S. Senator from Arizona. Obama received 365...

.

Vermont has one seat in the House, apportioned according to the 2000 United States Census. Its 2007-2008 congressional delegation consisted of one Democrat

Democratic Party (United States)

The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...

. That remains unchanged, and CQ Politics had forecasted the district to be safe for the incumbent party.

The party primary elections took place on September 9, 2008.

Match-up summary

District	Incumbent	2008 Status	Democratic	Republican	EINDC	Liberty Union	Progressive	US Marijuana	Independent
At-large Vermont's at-large congressional district Vermont has been represented in the United States House of Representatives by a single at-large congressional district since the 1930 census, when the state lost its second seat. There were once six districts in Vermont. Bernie Sanders held the seat from 1991 until 2007, when he became a U.S....	Peter Welch	Re-election	Peter Welch		Jerry Trudell	Jane Newton	Thomas Hermann	Cris Ericson	Mike Bethel

At-large District

The Democratic incumbent was Peter Welch, who was seeking his second term in Congress. On September 9, 2008, Welch easily withstood a primary challenge from Craig Hill. The Republican Party did not nominate anyone as a candidate for the seat. CQ Politics forecasted the race as 'Safe Democrat'.

In the general election, Welch was re-elected in a landslide, with 83.8% of the vote going to Welch and the rest going to independent candidate Mike Bethel (who placed second with about 5%) and a slew of third-party candidates who also challenged Welch.

Democratic

Democratic Party (United States)

The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...

• Peter Welch - Incumbent Representative, 2007-Present; Vermont St. Senator, 1981-1989 & 2001-2007.
• Craig Hill - Marketing consultant who ran for the US Senate in the Democratic primaries in 2004 & 2006 as a 9/11 awareness-spreading candidate, and then in the general elections as a Green Party candidate in 2004 & 2006. In the 2008 race his focus was on defense contractor/Pentagon control of the Democratic Congress. Defeated in primary.

Republican

Republican Party (United States)

The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...

• The Republican Party failed to nominate a candidate for the seat. However, write-in voters gave Democratic candidate Peter Welch the Republican nomination as well.

Liberty Union

Liberty Union Party

The Liberty Union Party of Vermont, founded in 1970 by former Congressman William H. Meyer, Peter Diamondstone and others, originated in the anti-war and People's Party movements of the late 1960s and defines itself as a nonviolent socialist party.-History:...

• Jane Newton—Retired nurse and Socialist activist who ran for US Representative in 2002, 2004 and 2006, and also ran for Lt. Governor in 1998 and 2000.

US Marijuana

US Marijuana Party

The United States Marijuana Party is a cannabis political party in the United States founded in 2002 by Loretta Nall specifically to end the war on drugs and to legalize cannabis. Their policies also include other socially libertarian positions...

• Cris Ericson—Paralegal and marijuana legalization activist who ran for Governor in 2002, 2004 and 2006, and US Senator in 2004 and 2006.

Independent

Independent (politician)

In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do...

• Mike Bethel -- columnist for The Bennington Banner.

External links

• Elections & Campaign Finance Division from the Vermont Secretary of State
• U.S. Congress candidates for Vermont at Project Vote Smart
  Project Vote Smart
  Project Vote Smart is a non-profit, non-partisan research organization that collects and distributes information on candidates for public office in the United States...
  
  
• Race ranking and details from CQ Politics
  Congressional Quarterly
  Congressional Quarterly, Inc., or CQ, is a privately owned publishing company that produces a number of publications reporting primarily on the United States Congress...
  
  
• Campaign contributions for Vermont congressional races from OpenSecrets.org
  Center for Responsive Politics
  The Center for Responsive Politics is a non-profit, nonpartisan research group based in Washington, D.C. that tracks money in politics and the effect of money and lobbying activity on elections and public policy and maintains a public online database of its information.Their database...
  
  
• Vermont U.S. House of Representatives race from 2008 Race Tracker
• Peter Welch for Congress, Democratic
• Thomas Hermann for Congress, Progressive