Vermont

Placeholder

Highest-power issue: Emergency orders that criminalize peaceful trade and assembly. Current recommendation: Endorse Saul Nesser.

1. Emergency orders that criminalize peaceful trade and assembly · power 64
2. Jail for regulatory offenses that require no criminal intent · power 40
3. Criminal penalties for peaceful home enterprise · power 36
4. Warrantless long-term location tracking · power 36

Legislature

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The legislature drafts the statute, sets the penalty and the mental state, funds the agencies, and can sunset an emergency power. On most of these issues it holds the text.

Emergency orders that criminalize peaceful trade and assembly

Placeholder scenario. During a declared emergency, an order makes it a crime to open a peaceful business or hold a peaceful gathering, with no separate violent act required. Sample entry for Vermont.

Harm: 4
Reach: 4
Office impact: 4
Power: 64

Conduct 4 and penalty severity 3 (Misdemeanor, up to a year) blend 60/40 into harm 4. Power 64 = 4 × 4 × 4.

Who can act

The legislature writes the penalty, the mental state, and the budget. On the question of how severely the law punishes peaceful conduct, this is usually the office with the text in its hands. One seat matters only as part of a majority, which is what winnability has to reflect. On an emergency order, the legislature can sunset the statute that authorizes it, cap its length, and require a vote to extend it. Placeholder analysis, not a description of any current officeholder.

Winnability is Saul Nesser's chance in this office, 4 of 5. It is a property of the leading score, not of the statute. Saul Nesser is fictional.

2026 legislative elections

Endorse Saul Nesser

Placeholder legislature race for the 2026 cycle in Vermont. Candidates are fictional. Alignments come from the “clear” profile so the mix of calls is reproducible.

Formula: Endorse Saul Nesser (The lead clears the toss-up gap.)

Each segment is issue power times alignment. Alignment runs from −1 to +1. Right of zero, the candidate would narrow the penalty. Left of zero, they would keep or expand it. Fictional candidates.

Fictional candidate

Saul Nesser

Limited-government placeholder · Winnability 4 · Score 73.6

Fictional placeholder. Not a real candidate. Limited-government placeholder.

Fictional candidate

Leah Vossman

Enforcement-first placeholder · Winnability 3 · Score -32

Fictional placeholder. Not a real candidate. Enforcement-first placeholder.

Placeholder call for Vermont, Legislature. The issue in this office is “Emergency orders that criminalize peaceful trade and assembly.” Saul Nesser leads Leah Vossman after winnability weighting, with a winnability of 4 out of 5, and the gap clears the toss-up rule. The editorial call matches the formula. Saul Nesser is not a real candidate.

All calls for this state

Governor

Placeholder

The governor signs or vetoes statutes, issues and withdraws executive orders, appoints agency heads, and proposes the budget. The office does not write a criminal penalty on its own.

Jail for regulatory offenses that require no criminal intent

Placeholder. A business owner or a license holder can be jailed, or carry a criminal record, for breaking a rule that does not require knowledge or intent. The conduct is ordinary work. Sample entry for Vermont.

Harm: 4
Reach: 5
Office impact: 2
Power: 40

Conduct 4 and penalty severity 3 (Misdemeanor, up to a year) blend 60/40 into harm 4. Power 40 = 4 × 5 × 2.

Who can act

A governor does not write the statute. The office can veto a penalty, refuse to expand it, appoint the people who enforce it, and propose the budget that feeds it. Where the harm lives in an order or an agency rule, the governor's pen is the direct instrument. On a missing mental-state element, the governor can veto the next bill and tell agencies to prefer civil penalties. The governor cannot insert a word the statute omits. Placeholder analysis, not a description of any current officeholder.

Winnability is Rosa Becket's chance in this office, 4 of 5. It is a property of the leading score, not of the statute. Rosa Becket is fictional.

2026 gubernatorial election

Endorse Rosa Becket

Placeholder governor race for the 2026 cycle in Vermont. Candidates are fictional. Alignments come from the “clear” profile so the mix of calls is reproducible.

Formula: Endorse Rosa Becket (The lead clears the toss-up gap.)

Each segment is issue power times alignment. Alignment runs from −1 to +1. Right of zero, the candidate would narrow the penalty. Left of zero, they would keep or expand it. Fictional candidates.

Fictional candidate

Rosa Becket

Limited-government placeholder · Winnability 4 · Score 46

Fictional placeholder. Not a real candidate. Limited-government placeholder.

Fictional candidate

Kurt Pellham

Enforcement-first placeholder · Winnability 3 · Score -20

Fictional placeholder. Not a real candidate. Enforcement-first placeholder.

Placeholder call for Vermont, Governor. The issue in this office is “Jail for regulatory offenses that require no criminal intent.” Rosa Becket leads Kurt Pellham after winnability weighting, with a winnability of 4 out of 5, and the gap clears the toss-up rule. The editorial call matches the formula. Rosa Becket is not a real candidate.

All calls for this state

Attorney general

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The attorney general decides appeals, civil enforcement, and often whether the state will defend a statute. Charging power over ordinary crimes may sit with county attorneys. The entry says so when that split matters.

Warrantless long-term location tracking

Placeholder. Agencies collect a person's movements for weeks without a warrant and use the file to prosecute nonviolent offenses. The tracking is the intrusion; the downstream penalty is often a felony. Sample entry for Vermont.

Harm: 4
Reach: 3
Office impact: 3
Power: 36

Conduct 4 and penalty severity 4 (Felony imprisonment) blend 60/40 into harm 4. Power 36 = 4 × 3 × 3.

Who can act

An attorney general rarely rewrites a statute. The office decides which cases to bring, which appeals to pursue, which settlements to accept, and, in many states, whether to defend a statute at all. That is power over how a penalty is used, not over the fact that it exists. On location tracking, the attorney general sets the state's position in the appeals that define the warrant rule. Placeholder analysis, not a description of any current officeholder.

Winnability is Thea York's chance in this office, 4 of 5. It is a property of the leading score, not of the statute. Thea York is fictional.

2026 attorney general election

Endorse Thea York

Placeholder attorney general race for the 2026 cycle in Vermont. Candidates are fictional. Alignments come from the “clear” profile so the mix of calls is reproducible.

Formula: Endorse Thea York (The lead clears the toss-up gap.)

Each segment is issue power times alignment. Alignment runs from −1 to +1. Right of zero, the candidate would narrow the penalty. Left of zero, they would keep or expand it. Fictional candidates.

Fictional candidate

Thea York

Limited-government placeholder · Winnability 4 · Score 41.4

Fictional placeholder. Not a real candidate. Limited-government placeholder.

Fictional candidate

Ned Okoye

Enforcement-first placeholder · Winnability 3 · Score -18

Fictional placeholder. Not a real candidate. Enforcement-first placeholder.

Placeholder call for Vermont, Attorney general. The issue in this office is “Warrantless long-term location tracking.” Thea York leads Ned Okoye after winnability weighting, with a winnability of 4 out of 5, and the gap clears the toss-up rule. The editorial call matches the formula. Thea York is not a real candidate.

All calls for this state

Judiciary

Placeholder

Judges rule on warrants, constitutional limits, and how a penalty is applied. They do not rewrite a clear statute, and this scorecard does not ask them to.

Criminal penalties for peaceful home enterprise

Placeholder. A zoning rule makes it a misdemeanor to teach, repair, or sell from one's own home, with no nuisance and no unwilling neighbor required. Sample entry for Vermont.

Harm: 3
Reach: 4
Office impact: 3
Power: 36

Conduct 3 and penalty severity 3 (Misdemeanor, up to a year) blend 60/40 into harm 3. Power 36 = 3 × 4 × 3.

Who can act

Judges apply the text and the constitution. They can refuse an unreasonable search, limit a forfeiture, or strike a penalty that exceeds the charter. They cannot supply a mental state the legislature deleted. Office impact is high when the dispute is constitutional and low when the statute is plain. On home enterprise, judges hear the citation and the occasional constitutional claim. The text of the ordinance still governs the ordinary case. Placeholder analysis, not a description of any current officeholder.

Winnability is Olive Brant's chance in this office, 4 of 5. It is a property of the leading score, not of the statute. Olive Brant is fictional.

2026 judicial elections

Toss-up

Placeholder judiciary race for the 2026 cycle in Vermont. Candidates are fictional. Alignments come from the “close” profile so the mix of calls is reproducible.

Formula: Toss-up — The lead sits inside the toss-up gap. Leading score: Olive Brant. (The lead sits inside the toss-up gap.)

Each segment is issue power times alignment. Alignment runs from −1 to +1. Right of zero, the candidate would narrow the penalty. Left of zero, they would keep or expand it. Fictional candidates.

Fictional candidate

Uma Wynn

Cautious-reform placeholder · Winnability 3 · Score 18

Fictional placeholder. Not a real candidate. Cautious-reform placeholder.

Fictional candidate

Olive Brant

Incumbent-leaning placeholder · Winnability 4 · Score 20.7

Fictional placeholder. Not a real candidate. Incumbent-leaning placeholder.

Placeholder call for Vermont, Judiciary. The issue in this office is “Criminal penalties for peaceful home enterprise.” Editors mark a toss-up because the score gap between Olive Brant and Uma Wynn sits inside the toss-up threshold. The lead sits inside the toss-up gap. Olive Brant and Uma Wynn are fictional.

All calls for this state