BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) – Former Vermont Governor Howard Dean may run for governor again.
Multiple sources inside the Democratic Party tell Channel 3 News that Dean is “seriously considering” running in the 2024 election, two decades after he left office the first time.
Contacted out of state where he is visiting family, Dean did not confirm or deny the report, saying in a text message: “I’ll make a statement at the appropriate time when I’m in Vermont.”
Less than seven months before the November election, no high-profile Democrats have emerged to challenge Gov. Phil Scott. The Republican is widely expected to seek a fifth two-year term in office. Just this week, a national poll ranked Scott as the most popular governor in the country. He was re-elected in 2022 with 71% of the vote.
But Dean was a popular governor, too. He served 5 1/2 terms from 1991 to 2003, making him the longest-serving governor in Vermont history. He rose to office from Lt. Governor following the death of Richard Snelling. After serving the remainder of Snelling’s term, Dean went on to win five more terms.
In 2004, Dean ran for president. As the first candidate to come out against the war in Iraq, he gained national attention. He used a grassroots strategy and pioneered internet fundraising to surge to the top of the polls as the primary season began. But after a disappointing third-place finish in the Iowa caucuses — punctuated by the famous “Dean scream” — his campaign foundered and John Kerry went on to win the Democratic nomination.
Dean did not disappear from national politics. He remained a regular on primetime TV news shows and in 2005 was elected chairman of the Democratic National Committee. In that role, Dean is credited with developing the “50-state strategy” that propelled Democrats to majorities in both houses of Congress and Barack Obama to the presidency.
Dean, now 75, has largely worked as a political consultant over the past decade while living in Burlington.
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