Phil Scott

Regarded as one of the nation's most popular governors, Scott is considered a moderate and is the only Republican elected to a statewide office in Vermont as of 2022.

In April 2021, Scott was criticized for implementing a race-based COVID-19 vaccination schedule. In response, he released a statement condemning what he called a "racist response" to the plan.

Scott is a liberal Republican. As a candidate and governor, he is known to "embrace moderate and sometimes even liberal policies"; his views can be described as "fiscally conservative but socially liberal". Of his views, Scott has said: "I am very much a fiscal conservative. But not unlike most Republicans in the Northeast, I'm probably more on the left of center from a social standpoint ... I am a pro-choice Republican." Scott supported the impeachment inquiry into Donald Trump that began in September 2019. In the 2020 U.S. presidential election, Scott announced that he had voted for Democratic nominee Joe Biden. After the 2021 storming of the U.S. Capitol building, he called for Trump to "resign or be removed from office".

Scott is pro-choice. In June 2019, he signed into law an abortion rights bill.

Scott pledged to veto any budget that grows faster than the growth rate of the underlying economy or wages in the previous year, or that increases statewide property taxes. Conflicts over raising property tax rates, which the state legislature supported and Scott opposed, led to a strained relationship between him and the legislature in 2018 for the FY19 budget, despite high revenues overall.

In early 2018, Scott called for eliminating the tax on Social Security benefits. House legislators incorporated a modified form of this proposal into the final FY19 budget, eliminating the tax for low- and middle-income retirees. The tax reform Scott planned (which was ultimately implemented) also lowered state income tax rates by 0.2% for all brackets; tied Vermont's tax system to Adjusted Gross Income (AGI); created Vermont-defined income deductions and personal exemptions similar to the federal tax code; increased the state earned income tax credit by three percentage points; and added a new 5% charitable contribution tax credit. Scott's administration has reduced both Workers' Compensation and Unemployment Insurance tax rates. He has twice proposed to phase out the tax on military retirement income, which the legislature did not advance.

On April 13, 2017, Scott announced a $150 million settlement in the ongoing case of alleged fraud relating to the Jay Peak and Burke Mountain EB-5 developments.

According to an October 2017 Morning Consult poll, Scott's approval rating stood at 60%, making him the 7th most popular governor in the country. The poll was conducted between July 1 and September 30, 2017, and had a margin of error of 4%. In April 2018, another Morning Consult poll found that Scott's approval rating had risen to 65%, making him the 4th most popular governor in the country. His favorability ratings fell to 52% by May 2018, and to 47% by July, marking the largest decrease in popularity for any governor in the nation. By April 2019, Scott's approval rating had recovered to 59%, with a 28% disapproval rating, making him the 5th most popular governor in the country, with a net approval of 31%.

On May 24, 2017, Scott vetoed a bill that would have legalized marijuana recreationally in Vermont. In October 2020, he announced he would not veto another bill to legalize recreational marijuana use, allowing the bill to become a law without his signature.

Scott opposed the Trump administration's immigration policies. In 2017, he signed a bill to limit the involvement of Vermont police with the federal government in regard to immigration, and the Department of Justice notified Vermont that it had been preliminarily found to be a sanctuary jurisdiction on November 15, 2017. Scott opposed the Trump administration's "zero tolerance" policy and the separation of families at the border.

Scott approved $48 million for clean water funding in 2017. He signed an executive order creating the Vermont Climate Action Commission. Scott announced a settlement with Saint-Gobain to address water quality issues and PFOA contamination in Bennington County. His FY18 budget proposal called for a tax holiday on energy efficient products and vehicles. On June 2, 2017, Scott led Vermont to join the United States Climate Alliance, after President Trump withdrew the U.S. from the Paris Agreement. Scott committed to achieving 90% renewable energy by 2050. In 2019, he signed several pieces of legislation related to water quality, including creating a long-term funding mechanism for cleaning up the state's waterways, testing for lead in schools and child care centers, and regulating perfluorooctanoic acid and related PFAS chemicals in drinking water. On September 15, 2020, Scott vetoed the Global Warming Solutions Act, which mandated reductions to Vermont's carbon emissions. Ten days later, his veto was overridden.

On July 6, 2017, Scott won the Thunder Road Late Model Series feature race; he started from the pole, and the victory was his first since 2013. Scott participated in a limited number of Thunder Road events in 2019, and won the June 27, 2019, LMS feature race. As of July 2019, Scott has 31 career wins, which places him third all time in Thunder Road's LMS division.

An early 2016 poll commissioned by Vermont Public Radio and conducted by the Castleton University Polling Institute found that of the two candidates for the Republican nomination for governor, Scott was preferred by 42% of respondents compared to 4% for Bruce Lisman. A poll commissioned by Energy Independent Vermont in late June 2016 indicated that Scott had the support of 68% of Republicans to Lisman's 23%.

On May 8, 2016, Scott was endorsed by nearly all of Vermont's Republican legislators. He did not support Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential campaign.

In July 2016, Scott outlined the transportation priorities he would implement as governor. He said he would strengthen the link between economic growth and Vermont's infrastructure; oppose additional transportation taxes, including a carbon tax; oppose accumulating additional state debt for transportation; encourage innovation in transportation by implementing a Research and Development (R&D) tax credit and an Angel Investor tax credit (a 60% credit toward cash equity investments in Vermont businesses, specifically targeted toward transportation, energy and manufacturing firms); protect the state's transportation fund to ensure it is used for transportation purposes only; advocate federal reforms and flexibility in transportation policy; and update the Agency of Transportation's long-range plan for transportation.

In September 2015, Scott maintained high name recognition and favorability among Vermont residents. The Castleton University Polling Institute found that more than three-quarters of Vermonters knew who he was, and that of those who were able to identify him, 70% viewed him favorably. Despite his being a Republican, the same poll found that 59% of self-identified Democrats held a favorable view of Scott, while only 15% held an unfavorable view of him.

In September 2015, Scott announced his candidacy for Vermont governor.

Scott was an active member of the National Lieutenant Governors Association (NLGA), and served on the NLGA Executive Committee and the NLGA Finance Committee. As a member of the NLGA, he joined fellow lieutenant governors across the country in two bipartisan letters opposing proposed cuts to the Army National Guard in 2014 and 2015. Scott was a lead sponsor of an NLGA resolution to develop a long-term vision for surface transportation in the U.S. He also co-sponsored resolutions to recognize the importance of arts and culture in tourism to the U.S. economy, to support Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education, to support designating a National Arts in Education Week, and to support a comprehensive system to end homelessness among U.S. veterans.

After graduating from high school, Scott began working at DuBois Construction, a Middlesex business founded by his uncle. Scott became a co-owner in 1986. He is a past president of the Associated General Contractors of Vermont. On January 6, 2012, a fire at DuBois Construction caused substantial damage, but the owners rebuilt and continued operations.

On November 2, 2010, Scott was elected the 81st lieutenant governor of Vermont, defeating Steve Howard. He took office on January 6, 2011. He was reelected in 2012, defeating Cassandra Gekas, and in 2014, defeating Dean Corren.

As a state senator and lieutenant governor, Scott was active with a number of community service projects. In 2005, he founded the Wheels for Warmth program, which buys used car tires and resells safe ones, with the profits going to heating fuel assistance programs in Vermont.

In 2002, he became a three-time champion, winning both the Thunder Road and Airborne Late Model Series track championships and the American Canadian Tour championship. (Airborne Park Speedway is a stock car track in the town of Plattsburgh, New York). He also competed in the 2005 British Stock Car Association (BriSCA) Formula One Championship of the World, but did not finish.

A Republican, Scott was elected to the Vermont Senate in 2000, one of three at-large senators representing the Washington County Senate district. He was reelected four times, and served from 2001 to 2011. During his Senate career, he was vice chair of the Transportation Committee and chaired the Institutions Committee. He also served as a member of the Natural Resources and Energy Committee. As chair of the Institutions Committee, Scott redesigned the Statehouse cafeteria to increase efficiency.

Scott is a champion stock car racer. He won the 1996 and 1998 Thunder Road Late Model Series (LMS) championships and the 1997 and 1999 Thunder Road Milk Bowls. (The Milk Bowl is Thunder Road's annual season finale.)

Philip Brian Scott (born August 4, 1958) is an American politician, businessman and stock car racer who has served as the 82nd governor of Vermont since 2017. A member of the Republican Party, he was elected governor in the 2016 general election with 53% of the vote. He was reelected in 2018 with 55.2% and in 2020 with 68.5% of the vote and a margin of 41%, the largest of any Vermont gubernatorial election since 1996, and the largest for a Republican since 1950. He was overwhelmingly reelected again in 2022, increasing his vote share and margin of victory, this time taking 69.3% of the vote and a margin of victory of nearly 46%. Scott was the 81st lieutenant governor of Vermont from 2011 to 2017 and a state senator representing the Washington County district from 2001 to 2011.

Scott was born on August 4, 1958, in Barre, Vermont, the son of Marian (Beckley) and Howard Scott. He graduated from Barre's Spaulding High School in 1976, and is a 1980 graduate of the University of Vermont, where he received a Bachelor of Science degree in industrial education.