How residents in one Vermont county are feeling after Trump's victory

On Wednesday morning, Vermonters learned Donald Trump is their president-elect.

And Wednesday afternoon, Vermont Public reporter Elodie Reed crisscrossed Franklin County to hear how residents were feeling.

This story was produced for the ear. We highly recommend listening to the audio. We’ve also provided a transcript, which has been edited for length and clarity.

Elodie Reed: I visited farms, front yards, flower shops, restaurants, laundromats, a food shelf and a hair salon.

Some people felt happy about Trump winning. Some felt sad about Kamala Harris losing. Some people didn’t have strong opinions either way.

Some did have strong opinions, but didn’t want their neighbors to know about them.

And one person, citing their diversity, equity and inclusion work, as well as their gay son — said they planned to leave the country because of Trump’s victory.

Of the couple dozen people I spoke to, only a few felt comfortable sharing on the record, with their full names attached. No women wanted to be recorded.

Here’s 55-year-old Robert Ovitt, at his family’s farm in Fairfax.

Robert Ovitt: Trump is a good situation. You know, better than Harris, obviously, in my book, so. 

Elodie Reed: What are you hoping his presidency changes in your life? 

Robert Ovitt: Well, hopefully we get some taxes straightened out and the world straightened out a little bit. He isn’t afraid to step up to the plate. We figured that out last term.

Especially Vermont’s getting stupid. You know, the taxes are just phenomenal. Property taxes, too. I mean, it’s crazy. Makes it makes you think that you should, can’t live here no more.

Elodie Reed: When did you find out about Trump winning?

Robert Ovitt: This morning.

Elodie Reed: Do you remember, like, what you felt?

Robert Ovitt: “Ahhhh,” that’s how I felt. 

Elodie Reed: “Ahhhh”?

Robert Ovitt: Yes, delighted.

Elodie Reed: I also met Robert Ovitt’s son, Kyle, who was sweeping out a truck bed.

Elodie Reed: What are you up to right now? 

Kyle Ovitt: Oh, getting ready to go cut some firewood. 

Truthfully, I didn’t even vote. I mean, I’m not really — I wasn’t really too keen on either one of them, but I definitely feel that Trump was definitely the better elected president at this point. I’m not quite sure how it’s going to go the next four years with everything that’s happened in the last couple months, as far as the tries — the assassination attempts.

I’m gonna live my life the same way, no matter what, who becomes president, who becomes what. That’s why I don’t really get into politics too much. I kind of just, you know, have a farm family and live the way I live.

Elodie Reed: What do you see as the future of this family farm?

Kyle Ovitt: Hopefully keeping it going? Unfortunately, we had to sell our dairy cows quite a few years ago, in the ’90s, because of that, and we got into excavation and trapping. We keep the sugaring, you know, as a hobby, but also for our agricultural tax rate. But hopefully we can keep it going with the way society is going.

Elodie Reed: Is there anything you wish your president would do that would have an impact on your life?

Kyle Ovitt: Absolutely. Help the, you know, lower-income people, and that’s the biggest thing I disagree with, with Trump is, you know, he wants to raise taxes on the lower class, and, you know, middle class or whatever, and nothing for the higher class.

Well, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, you know. And that’s just the way it’s been for the last 20 years, you know, probably longer than that, but I’m only 35, so.

Elodie Reed: After spending time with the Ovitts, I drove through Fairfield and into Sheldon, where John Gorton and several volunteers were working in the local food shelf.

John Gorton: I’m the lay minister who serves the Sheldon Methodist Church. And we operate this rather sizable food shelf operation here.

I’m very disappointed. A lot of people talked about the economy. Apparently that was one of the main drivers, was the economy. And people say, was I better off in 2019 when Trump was president? The trouble is, the conditions that existed in 2019 will never exist again. We live in a totally different world today.

Before the pandemic hit, we were serving about 100 families a month. In February of 2020, just as the pandemic hit, we almost immediately doubled to about 200 families.

And then once the pandemic started wane, we actually dropped down a little bit for a few months. And then the effects, as the effects of inflation came in, it started growing and growing, growing. Today, right now, this month, we serve about 400 families.

I’m not very optimistic. I had a meeting this morning of leaders of social service providers out in St. Albans for Franklin County, and the mood was pretty somber, because we’re concerned that the need for our services is going to skyrocket and the federal resources that might support social services work will essentially be dried up.

You know, as a lay minister and a preacher, I studied the Old Testament. And if you think about the history of the Jewish people, the Israelite nation, as espoused in the Old Testament, through the Old Testament, they go through periods where they’re being very righteous. They’re doing things correctly. They’re being very morally right, and then they fall away, and they kind of forget about God and what they should be doing, to serve God, and fall down, and they’ll come back. And many times when they fall down, there are bad things that happen, like they got into slavery in Egypt.

But if you read through all those stories in the Bible, there’s a group of people who are always referred to as the remnant, and those are the people who remain faithful to their relationship with God and their calling to serve other people. And I feel like that’s what we’re going to see in this country. And the meeting I had this morning with a lot of other service providers, people who provide services to marginalized people, we all had the same feeling. We’re the remnant, and we are the people who, no matter what else happens, no matter how many bad things happen in the country or even around the world, we will be the ones who will remain faithful and will serve other people, no matter what. No matter what happens.

Have questions, comments, or tips? Send us a message.