As with the Jetta, I kept a record of all the maintenance receipts, gas receipts, and (most of) the tolls, so I have a reasonably complete dataset on the costs of owning this car for 13 years and 124k miles.
Very roughly speaking, we're talking $4000/year, a little more than the Jetta**, and $0.42/mile, somewhat less than the Jetta. Some interesting things to note:
Even though gas was more expensive during the lifetime of the Prius, averaging $2.997/gallon, we spent nearly $1500 less on gas vs the Jetta, because of the superior fuel efficiency of the Prius
We spent much less on insurance for the Prius, largely because I was a mid-20's unmarried male driver for the first three years of owning the Jetta.
We bought no significant accessories for the Prius; in the Jetta, we swapped out the cassette deck for a CD player. The Prius came with a 6-CD changer. The new car (a Hyundai Tucson PHEV) connects to our phones.
** though my data on the costs of the Jetta did not include some costs that I captured for the Prius.
Claudia de la Cruz and Karina Garcia, the Socialism and Liberation party. The first item on their platform page states, "The 100 largest corporations in America should be seized from their billionaire owners and turned into public property – owned by the working class that created their vast wealth in the first place." For those who are confused, *this* is what socialism actually looks like. It's a bold platform, but...
Rachele Fruit and Dennis Richter, Socialist Workers party. They appear to not have a campaign website. There are a few articles about Rachele Fruit, including one from February when Margaret Trowe was her running mate, but nothing that gives a sense of a campaign platform. No thank you.
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and Nicole Shanahan, We the People party. They were too late in dropping out of the race to be removed from the VT ballot. RFKJr's website claims Biden cut his Secret Service protection in retaliation for endorsing Trump, but he's been lying about this for over a year.
The primaries are over, and it's on to the general election. Every federal race is contested, though none are competitive in this state (the Presidential race is obviously very close on a national level).
Representative has four candidates:
Becca Balint, the Democratic candidate and incumbent. On her issues page, she mentions concrete action she has taken to try to move those issues forward. The only serious candidate in this group.
Mark Coester, the Republican/Libertarian candidate. He has an issues page, but no concrete proposals. He did not fill out his VTDigger profile. According to the 7 Days Q&A, he thinks we should abandon Ukraine to Putin, so, no thanks.
Jill "Jessy" Diamondstone, the Vermont Peace and Justice candidate, does not appear to have a campaign website, couldn't be bothered to fill out her VTDigger profile, and according to the 7 Days Q&A, is essentially unreachable.
Adam Ortiz, an Independent candidate, has a campaign website that looks more like an ad for his business than a serious attempt to become the representative from Vermont. According to the 7 Days Q&A, he also thinks we should abandon Ukraine to Putin, so, no thanks.
Senator has five candidates:
Steve Berry, an Independent candidate, thinks freedom of speech and the right to assemble were suspended during Covid, (from the main page of his website). Hard pass.
Mark Stewart Greenstein, the Epic party candidate. His campaign HQ is in Connecticut, he appears to be a CT citizen, and it's unclear why he's allowed to run in VT. Hard pass.
Matt Hill, the Libertarian candidate, lists "bringing Federal jobs to Vermont" as the first bullet point on the main page of his campaign website, which feels really weird for a Libertarian candidate. I thought they were all about eliminating Federal jobs. On his VTDigger profile, he states the border is the number one issue before Congress, but does not seem to advocate for either of the libertarian perspectives on immigration. Pass.
Gerald Malloy, (not to be confused with Gerald Malloy from South Carolina) the Republican candidate, is running for Senate again, after losing to Peter Welch two years ago. I think there are issues he wants to address that make sense. I don't think he makes a sufficiently good case for why he would be better at effecting positive change than Bernie.
I went to go look at Bernie's issues page; below is a screenshot of his website's navigation bar. That's right, "Shop" is the number two nav item after "Meet Bernie". That's some bullshit right there.
Justin Schoville, the Vermont Peace and Justice candidate. Unlike many of the other Peace and Justice candidates, Justin filled out his VTDigger profile. Like Gerald, I think there are issues he wants to address that make sense, but I don't think he makes a case for why he would be better than Bernie.
The primaries are over, and it's on to the general election. Every statewide race is contested, but it's unclear if any are competitive...
Attorney General has three candidates:
Charity Clark is the Democratic candidate and the current AG, elected two years ago. She worked in the AG's office for eight years prior, so she is the most experienced candidate. Her candidate site doesn't list any positions. The About page for the AG office states the Vision as "A Vermont where the public interest and the natural environment are protected by a just and effective state government." WCAX's reporting on the AG race says "she’s focused on online safety protections for kids, a growing concern with artificial intelligence, and addressing what she calls a youth vaping crisis." The VTDigger profile has more on PCBs, domestic violence, and gun safety. I would like to see more focus on the opiod epidemic, as that is a root cause of the current public safety concerns in Vermont.
Ture Nelson is the Republican candidate. His positions mirror his answers to VTDigger's profile questions, and are concerning. His focus seems to be on investigating whether public servants are "doing their jobs", with no mention of the opioid epidemic.
Auditor of Accounts has two candidates:
Doug Hoffer is the Democratic candidate and the incumbent with 12 years of service. He has been excellent in the position, but is 72. My one question for him is whether he has a successor trained up to take over when it's time for him to retire.
H. Brooke Paige, the Republican candidate, who believes vote-by-mail is unconstitutional and repealing it is his top priority. Again, not a serious candidate, and it's sad the Republican party can't do better.
State Treasurer has two candidates:
Joshua Bechhoefer is the Republican candidate. He does not appear to have a campaign website. His top priority, if elected, is to provide "more options for pensions where possible" without any further detail. That sounds like dismantling the pension system in favor of 401k's to me, and not a good idea.
Mike Pieciak, the Democratic candidate and current treasurer. His top priority is housing, which the state has invested in during his term. Homelessness is another root cause of the current public safety concerns in Vermont, so it makes sense to me that encouraging housing growth is a focus for the Treasurer.
Lieutenant Governor has three candidates. This is the only race that seems remotely competitive.
Ian Diamondstone is the Vermont Peace and Justice candidate. Like Kevin Gustafson, he appears to have no campaign website, and his VTDigger profile, which he did not bother to provide answers to, points to the party website, which does not mention he is a candidate. I don't understand the purpose of running if one isn't going to do the bare minimum of campaigning.
John Rodgers is a former Democratic senator and representative from the Northeast Kingdom, who switched parties this year to be the Republican candidate.
David Zuckerman is the Democratic candidate and current Lt Governor. I am a little concerned that he doesn't seem to have the full support of his party: he faced a challenger who took 36% of the vote in the primary, and a story about being reprimanded by the VT House Speaker was run in the leadup to that primary election.
There is video of a debate between Rodgers and Zuckerman. Starts off very friendly and gets a little heated when the candidates start to ask each other questions. There isn't a lot that separates the two.
Governor has five candidates:
Esther Charlestin is the Democratic candidate. Her policy page is focused on three issues and has concrete proposals. I would like to see a broader platform from a gubernatorial candidate. I hope, after the election, she is able to continue to advocate for these proposals.
June Goodband is the Vermont Peace and Justice candidate. She has a full and thoughtful platform. I am concerned that she has no political experience and is starting by seeking the governorship.
Kevin Hoyt is an Independent candidate who has been arrested and charged with stalking and harassment. He does not have a campaign website. Some of his answers to the VTDigger questions are ... not worthy of a gubernatorial candidate.
Eli "Poa" Mutino is an Independent candidate. His issues page highlights three important issues, but there are no concrete proposals, and the governor needs to have a broader view.
Phil Scott is the Republican candidate and sitting governor. His website doesn't appear to contain any policy or position statements. He did not bother to fill out the VTDigger profile. He will handily win another term.
There is video of a debate between Charlestin and Scott. Watching this, I was struck by Scott's dismissal of the work done in the state legislature, arguing for a shorter legislative session with the logic, "they pass most of the bills in the last week." He was a state senator for 10 years; he should know better.
The primaries are over, and it's on to the general election. Among the local races, there is only one competitive race, for State Representative.
High Bailiff has a single nominee, Johnny Trutor, whose campaign is a Facebook page with a jokey video.
State Representative is a rematch of the Democratic party primary:
Missa Aloisi, now running as a Progressive. She is a small business owner with two children in Burlington School District. Missa's priorities are dignity & safety, equity, and affordability.
Abbey Duke, a small business owner with two children in Burlington School District. 😁 Abbey was appointed to Emma Mulvaney-Stanak's seat after she was elected Mayor of Burlington in March. Her priorities include housing, education funding reform, and climate action. She is also a neighbor.
State Senator has three nominees, from which we vote for three:
Phil Baruth, the current senate president pro tempore, advocate for gun control, paid sick leave, and education (personalized learning plans, which have seen spotty implementation).
Martine Larocque Gulick, a current senator. Her top priorities are reforming education funding, housing, and healthcare.
Tanya Vyhovsky, a current senator who previously served as a state rep. Her platform priorities are economic justice, social justice, environmental justice, and reproductive justice.
These are the three who won the Democratic primary. Stewart Ledbetter, who also ran in the primary, chose not to run as an independent or for another party.
