MONTPELIER — Citing the self-funding of his campaign as a mistake, Democrat Brandon Riker has dropped out of the race for lieutenant governor and endorsed David Zuckerman.
The Marlboro businessman — the first to declare his candidacy for the race — made the announcement Wednesday, citing his lack of grass-roots support and the fact he and Zuckerman share many of the same ideals.
“He has a strong moral compass,” Riker said. “As a member of the LGBTQ community, I cannot tell you how proud I am that Dave has fought for civil unions and marriage equality. As someone who cares about the future of the state, I can’t tell you how proud I am to endorse him today.”
Riker said that, despite logging 15,000 miles while campaigning across all of the state’s 14 counties, he was unable to develop a movement of supporters.
“The truth was, we didn’t have the grass-roots support, and the only candidate in the race who did was Dave,” said Riker, who said he made the decision this past weekend.
Riker — who previously served as a campaign staffer for President Barack Obama and U.S. Sens. Jon Tester, D-Mont., and Mark Begich, D-Alaska — said being a campaign staffer was far different from being a candidate, and that he made some mistakes.
Among those mistakes, he said, was starting off his campaign fundraising efforts with $60,000 of his own money.
“I thought it was going to jumpstart the campaign, and instead, it created a picture I was trying to buy the seat, which was not true,” Riker said.
With $109,000 left in his campaign account, Riker said he will be able to return all of the donations he received. The $80,000 spent will come out of his pocket, he said.
After returning the money, Riker said, he will close the account instead of keeping what he referred to as a “war chest” for a future campaign. His next step, he said, will be to give more attention to his business sponsoring exchange-traded funds.
Zuckerman, who is running as a Democrat, thanked Riker for his endorsement, noting the two share many of the same goals.
“We’ve crossed paths a few different times along the way through the campaign and I’ve always had great respect for what you’ve been talking about, primarily around affordable housing and jobs that pay decent wages and a future of Vermont that really is bright ahead of us,” Zuckerman said.
Rep. Kesha Ram, the other democratic candidate for lieutenant governor, expressed disappointment Riker didn’t talk with her before dropping out of the race.
“I’m disappointed that Brandon Riker didn’t have the courtesy to let me know any of this in advance,” Ram said. “I am going to have a big endorsement this week that I think will be far more pivotal in the minds of Vermonters.”
Other declared candidates include Republican Randy Brock, independent Louis Meyers and Progressive Boots Wardinski.
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