The Senate meets at the Statehouse in Montpelier on March 23, 2022. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerUpdated at 12:36 a.m.The Vermont Republican Party has disrupted Democrats’ supermajority in the Vermont Senate, unseating multiple incumbents and dominating races for open seats.Republicans toppled Democratic incumbents in the Addison, Chittenden-North and Grand Isle districts, according to Tuesday night results, and were poised to pick up another two open seats that are being vacated by Democrats in Orleans and Caledonia counties. Further endangering Democrats’ stronghold in the Senate, longtime Democratic Sen. Mark MacDonald appeared likely to lose his seat in Orange County as of late Tuesday night.The Addison result proved the chamber’s biggest upset of the evening, with Sen. Chris Bray, chair of the Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Energy, losing to relative political newcomer Steven Heffernan in a district thought to be solidly Democratic. After midnight, all but one of the district’s towns had reported preliminary results to the Vermont Secretary of State’s Office. Sen. Ruth Hardy, D-Addison, led with 23.55%, followed by Heffernan with 23.25% and Bray with 22.12%.From Gov. Phil Scott’s election night party, Vermont Republican Party Chair Paul Dame said of the Grand Old Party’s down-ballot success, “I don’t think we’ve had a night this good in 10 years.”“During the last two years, we kind of had this stalemate, with the governor saying, ‘I’ve got a mandate with 70% of the vote,’ and (House Speaker Jill) Krowinski and (Senate President Pro Tempore Phil) Baruth saying, ‘We’ve got a mandate with a supermajority.’ And there’s sort of been this impasse,” Dame said. “Tonight, voters have weighed in on how to solve that stalemate. They said, ‘You should have been listening to the governor in last two years.'”Meanwhile, as results began to come in at the Vermont Democratic Party’s election night gathering in South Burlington, Baruth told the crowd there, “I’m not going to lie to you — this is a tough night.”The party’s executive director, Jim Dandeneau, was similarly downtrodden. “We are not seeing the results locally that we had hoped for,” he said shortly after 10 p.m. In an interview an hour later, he said that the state GOP’s — and particularly Gov. Scott’s — messaging over property taxes proved to be more effective than what he called Democrats’ “herculean work” knocking on doors and engaging with voters on the ground.“He was blanketing the airwaves with his messaging about cutting taxes. That ended up being not great for us.” By around 9 p.m., the GOP had flipped its first seat, with Rep. Patrick Brennan, R-Colchester, ousting recently appointed Democratic Sen. Andy Julow in the Grand Isle district.Brennan, a longtime member of the Vermont House, carried the seat with 51% of the vote to Julow’s 45.6%, according to preliminary results from the Vermont Secretary of State’s Office.Julow, of North Hero, was appointed to fill the late Sen. Dick Mazza’s seat in the single-member district in May. Mazza, a moderate Democrat, held the seat for decades before his death this year. Both candidates modeled themselves after the late Dean of the Senate. By 9:30 p.m., Republicans had picked up another seat, this time when Rep. Chris Mattos, R-Milton, won the Chittenden North district. Sen. Irene Wrenner, D-Chittenden North, sought to defend her seat after winning the battleground district two years ago.Driven by a dominant showing in Milton and Fairfax, Mattos garnered 54% of the vote to Wrenner’s 42%, according to preliminary results from the Vermont Secretary of State’s Office. The race marked the Vermont Republican Party’s second go at Chittenden County’s northernmost Senate district, which has been a target for the party since reapportionment in 2022 broke up the former six-member Chittenden County district into three parts. Republican candidates in both Caledonia and Orleans counties gave victory speeches Tuesday night, with preliminary results showing strong leads in the two races. Both attended Gov. Scott’s election watch party in Montpelier. “Vermonters have clearly spoken and said that this state is becoming unaffordable for far too many,” Rep. Scott Beck, the Republican candidate in Caledonia, said in an interview. “They're telling us that they don't want the far extreme agendas. They want the middle to be represented again.”With 11 of 12 towns reporting results as of 11:53 p.m., Beck had collected 56% of the vote to Democrat Amanda Cochrane’s 41%, according to preliminary results from the Secretary of State’s Office. A first time legislative candidate, Cochrane is the executive director of a social service nonprofit.In neighboring Orleans County, Republican Sam Douglass, a local GOP leader from North Troy, similarly declared victory over Rep. Katherine Sims, D-Craftsbury.“Up in the Northeast Kingdom, we're a very tight knit bunch, and we know when you're not authentic,” Douglass said in an interview Tuesday night. “This might be a little radical to say, but I don't think it was Republicans that won. I think it was common sense that won.”With 17 of 20 towns reporting, Douglass had 54% of the vote to Sims’s 41%, according to the Secretary of State’s Office’s preliminary results. Together, Democrats and Progressives held 23 seats in the upper chamber last legislative session, with Republicans occupying the remaining seven. Six open seats, however, created an opportunity for Republicans to chip away at that stronghold. And in some districts, Democratic incumbents faced steep competition.In April, Mazza stepped down from his Grand Isle seat. And in June, Sen. Dick Sears, a longtime Bennington County Democrat, died. The retirements of Sens. Jane Kitchel, D-Caledonia; Brian Campion, D-Bennington; Dick McCormack, D-Windsor; and Bobby Starr, D-Orleans, presented additional opportunities for newcomers to join the upper chamber. The open seats, several of which fell in purple districts, became a particular focus of the Vermont Republican Party, which sought to end Democrats’ supermajority in the upper chamber and allow Republican Gov. Phil Scott to veto bills without the current risk of being overridden.  READ MOREWhat were seen as the five most competitive Senate races, in the Caledonia, Chittenden North, Grand Isle, Orange and Orleans districts, garnered tens of thousands in donations from wealthy Burlington-area families. Scott campaigned harder than in recent years for fellow party mates, including in the five high-spending races.Shaun Robinson and Sarah Mearhoff contributed reporting.Read the story on VTDigger here: Republicans flip multiple seats in Vermont Senate, shattering Democratic supermajority.