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LiberalMind endorses H
Election Day is November 3. H. Brooke Paige won four Republican primaries this year — Attorney General, Auditor, Secretary of State, and Treasurer — by design, then withdrew from three so the state Republican committee could name replacements. Secretary of State is the one office he states he actually wants, and the one race he kept. He faces Democratic incumbent Sarah Copeland Hanzas and Progressive Rachel Shaw in a three-way race where Vermont's 50%-or-the-Legislature-decides rule is a live structural fact. No polling or finance figures for this race were located. LiberalMind endorses H. Brooke Paige — as unproven in office, and on watch. Read the research, and see why.
How Vermont got here
Paige was the only name on the Republican primary ballot for four statewide offices and won all four nominations. His stated purpose, documented by the Washington Examiner and the Vermont Political Observer: hold the slots so no Democrat could win a GOP nomination by write-in, then withdraw from all but the office he wants, letting the state committee name replacement nominees. He did exactly that (Burlington Free Press; The Green Papers change log). His 2018 and 2022 cycles followed the same win-multiple-nominations-then-withdraw pattern (Seven Days). Copeland Hanzas was unopposed for renomination (270toWin). Shaw (Progressive) is confirmed on the ballot by the South Burlington Voter Guide and The Green Papers. Because three candidates are running, Vermont's majority rule applies in fact: if no candidate receives 50%, the state Legislature chooses the officeholder (Vermont Constitution, Ch. II § 47, as noted on The Green Papers' Vermont page).
Sarah Copeland Hanzas (Democratic) — the incumbent
Background and service: Secretary of State since January 2023, seeking a third two-year term (The Green Papers; Seven Days guide, which frames the race on election-integrity questions put to both major candidates).
Pros: The proven incumbent in the state's chief elections office, renominated without opposition.
Cons: No break with her party toward our values in service was located in this research; she runs as the Democratic incumbent of a Democratic administration of the office.
The flaw, plainly: No flaw proven in service was located. The priced item is alignment — enabler-class incumbency, which under our doctrine is the standing reason the exception is not earned. Enabler is not extremist, and we do not call her one.
H. Brooke Paige (Republican) — the placeholder who wants this one job
Background and service: A perennial candidate and former newsstand owner whose multi-office placeholder strategy is documented in full above (Washington Examiner; Seven Days 2018 coverage). Secretary of State is the office he states he actually wants.
Status under our standard: Paige has never held this or any statewide office — unproven. His entire documented public record is the placeholder maneuver itself: lawful, openly explained by its author, and executed exactly as described. We print it as the documented conduct it is — neither a scandal nor a qualification.
Pros: He is the Republican nominee for the office he openly seeks, in a race where the alternative is a third term for the Democratic incumbent.
Cons: There is no governing or administrative record to inspect — none. Voters are asked to elect a chief elections officer whose file is a ballot tactic, however openly conducted.
The flaw, plainly: An empty qualification file. That is an unproven posture, priced as a watch — never as a demerit — and it is the honest center of this race.
Rachel Shaw (Progressive)
Shaw is confirmed on the ballot (South Burlington Voter Guide; The Green Papers). No record section for Shaw was located in this research; her candidacy's structural weight is that a three-way split makes the Legislature-decides rule a genuine possibility.
OUR CALL
LiberalMind endorses H. Brooke Paige — as unproven in office, and on watch.
This is a thin file and we say so. Copeland Hanzas is a proven incumbent with no located break toward our values; Paige is an unproven Republican whose documented record is a ballot maneuver conducted in the open. Our doctrine prices unproven as a watch posture, not a bar, and prices a reliable party-line incumbent's alignment as the standing reason not to cross over. Endorse Paige, on watch, with his empty file printed in full — and flag plainly, as we do in our report, that this call rests on an endorsee with no governing record at all.
For the complete Election 2026 breakdown — every race, claim by claim — see the full coverage on our website.
Vote early. Research your candidates. Choose the best moderates, whatever their party — no extremism from either side. And encourage your friends and family to do the same.
Sources
- Washington Examiner — Paige's four-nomination placeholder design and stated purpose; Vermont Political Observer — the mechanism
- Burlington Free Press (Aug. 31, 2026) — Paige's withdrawals and the committee replacements; The Green Papers change log (26Q3) and Vermont page — the roster and the § 47 majority rule
- Seven Days 2026 General Election Voters' Guide — the Copeland Hanzas/Paige framing and election-integrity questions; Seven Days 2018 coverage — Paige's earlier identical pattern
- South Burlington Voter Guide nominee list — Shaw's ballot presence; 270toWin — Copeland Hanzas unopposed for renomination
- Standing check: no pedophile-association material meeting the proven standard was located for any candidate on this ballot
Winner: Sarah Copeland Hanzas (Democratic) — called by the Associated Press. This result was appended on November 5, 2026 (results wave 3); the original article above is unchanged, exactly as published before Election Day.
AI-assisted article — but the sources are human, and the facts are very real.