1984 U.S. congressional election In 1984, Pollina won a
Democratic Party primary for Congress against Paul Forlenza and John Tatro. Pollina received 44% of the vote, Forlenza received 24% and Tatro received 27%. Pollina was defeated in the general election by incumbent
Republican Jim Jeffords, winning 27% of the vote to Jeffords' 65%.
1986 and 1988 State Representative elections In 1986 and 1988, Pollina was the Democratic nominee for State Representative from the Washington-1 district. He received 49% and 43%, respectively.
2000 Governor In 2000, Pollina ran for
Governor of Vermont as a member of the
Vermont Progressive Party, receiving 9.5% of the vote in the general election. Pollina ran against incumbent Democrat
Howard Dean who received 50.4% of the vote and former
State Representative Ruth Dwyer who received 38% of the vote. Due to new campaign financing laws, Pollina became the first candidate in the US to qualify for full public funding of his campaign.
2002 Lieutenant Governor In 2002, Pollina ran as the Progressive Party candidate for
Lieutenant Governor of Vermont, receiving 25% of the vote against Republican
Brian Dubie and State Senator
Peter Shumlin.
2008 Governor In 2008, Pollina ran as an Independent candidate for governor, finishing second with 21.8% of the vote against Republican incumbent
Jim Douglas, who won with 53.4% of the vote, and Democrat
Gaye Symington who received 21.7% of the vote. The Pollina campaign received unusually strong labor support for an independent candidate, receiving the endorsements of the three largest unions in the state. On September 14, the 10,000 strong Vermont AFL-CIO voted to endorse Pollina; the endorsement came on the heels of the previous endorsements from the Vermont State Employees Association (10,000 members) and the Abenaki Nation (1500 members). On May 15, Pollina received the endorsement of the Vermont-National Education Association and its 11,500 members. The endorsement by the NEA was the first time the union had backed an independent gubernatorial candidate. NEA-Vermont President Angelo Dorta stated that the endorsement of Pollina was partly because Symington "still tends to talk about our schools in terms of cost containment as opposed to investment". Pollina also garnered the support of the 3,000-member Gun Owners of Vermont. Along with the labor support, Pollina also received the endorsements and support of many public officials in the state including U.S. Senator
Bernie Sanders (I); former Governor
Philip H. Hoff (D);
Bob Kiss (Progressive), the mayor of
Burlington (the state's largest city); Vermont House Agriculture Committee chair
David Zuckerman (Progressive); and the
Vermont Progressive Party. Several prominent Democratic party activists formed Democrats for Pollina. Some of those involved were former state senators Harvey Carter, Janet Munt, and grassroots organizer Rebecca Moore. Several Vermont Democratic party officials also endorsed Pollina, such as
Bristol chair Peter Grant.
2010 State Senator In 2010, incumbent State Senator
Phil Scott ran for the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor, while incumbents
Bill Doyle and Ann Cummings ran for reelection in the three-member, at-large Washington County Senate District. Pollina ran as a
Progressive with Democratic support, and won one of the Democratic nominations. In the general election, Doyle and Cummings were reelected, and Pollina won the third seat.
Democratic primary, August 24, 2010: •
Ann Cummings (D) 5,577 (nominated) • Anthony Pollina (D) 4,902 (nominated) • Donny Osman (D) 3,659 (nominated) •
Kimberly Cheney (D) 3,576 • Laura Moore (D) 2,909
General election, November 2, 2010: •
Ann Cummings (D) 12,213 (elected) •
Bill Doyle (R) 11,971 (elected) • Anthony Pollina (P/D) 10,689 (elected) • Donny Osman (D) 10,120 • Ed Larson (R) 7,791 • David Harrington (R) 7,175 • Gaelan Brown (I) 2,270
2012 State Senator Pollina was reelected in 2012, along with Washington County incumbents
Bill Doyle and Ann Cummings, who defeated Republicans Buddy Barnett and Dexter LeFavour, and Independent Jeremy Hansen. Doyle finished first with 25.4% of all votes cast, Cummings placed second with 24.5%, and Pollina finished third with 21.8%. In November 2012, Pollina won the "Lawmaker of the Year" award during his freshman term along with fellow lawmaker Rep. Bill Botzow, D-Bennington, by "Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility". He scored perfectly for the award based on his stance on health care reform, establishing a Genuine Process Indicator, and attempting to overturn the Citizens United court decision.
2014 State Senator In 2014, Pollina was elected to another term, as Washington County reelected all three incumbent Senators. Incumbent Bill Doyle, a Republican, finished first with 10,918 votes. Democrat Ann Cummings had 10,669. Pollina received 9,923 votes, placing ahead of fourth-place finisher Republican Patricia McDonald, who received 8,488.
2016 State Senator Pollina was reelected to another term, as was incumbent Democrat Ann Cummings; incumbent Bill Doyle was defeated by Francis Brooks, the former majority leader of the Vermont House of Representatives and former Sergeant at Arms of the
Vermont State House. • Ann Cummings (D), 17,013, 22.4% • Anthony Pollina (P/D), 15,212, 20.00% •
Francis Brooks (D), 13,689, 18% •
Bill Doyle (R), 13,350, 17.6% • Mike Doyle (R), 8,384, 11% • Josh Fitzhugh (R), 8,233, 10.8%
2018 State Senator Pollina was reelected, as was Ann Cummings. With Francis Brooks not running for another term, the third seat was won by Democrat Andrew Perchlik. Pollina, Cummings, and Perchlik defeated Republicans Chris Bradley, Ken Alger, and Dwayne Tucker and independent Barre Wadle. • Ann Cummings (D), 16,834, 24.5% • Anthony Pollina (P/D), 14,547, 21.2% • Andrew Perchlik (D), 12,614, 18.4% • Chris Bradley (R), 7,523, 11.0% • Ken Alger (R), 7,244, 10.6% • Dwayne Tucker (R), 7,195, 10.5% • Barry Wadle (I), 2,565, 3.7% • Other/Write-in, 87, .01%
2020 State Senator Pollina, Cummings, and Perchlik were all reelected.
Democratic Primary: • Ann Cummings, 8,590, 31.0% • Andrew Perchlik, 7,643, 27.6% • Anthony Pollina, 6,558, 23.6% • Theo Kennedy, 4,812, 17.3% • Write-ins, 134, 0.5%
General election: • Ann Cummings (D), 21,159, 25.2% • Anthony Pollina (P/D), 17,200, 20.5% • Andrew Perchlik (D), 15,029, 17.9% • Dwayne Tucker (R), 9,258, 11.0% • Dawnmarie Tomasi (R), 9,191, 11.0% • Ken Alger (R), 9,113, 10.9% • Paul Vallerand (I), 2,678, 3.2% • Write-ins, 186, 0.2%
2022 State Senator Pollina announced he was not running for reelection to his State Senate seat in May 2022, and retired from the Senate upon the end of his term in 2023. ==Family==