The 2026 race for Vermont State Senate in the Bennington district is contested, with two Democratic incumbents in the field: Seth Bongartz and Rob Plunkett. The general election is scheduled for Nov. 3, 2026.
Both candidates hold the same party designation and are identified as incumbents, meaning they currently serve in the office they are seeking. The contested designation establishes that the race has more than one candidate. It does not, by itself, identify a policy disagreement between Bongartz and Plunkett or explain how the candidates differ.
Seth Bongartz
Seth Bongartz is running as a Democrat and is an incumbent in the Bennington State Senate district. He is one of the two candidates identified in the contested 2026 general election.
No candidate biography is on file for Bongartz. There are also no documented policy positions that can be attributed to him in this race. That means the candidate information does not establish his positions on state spending, taxes, housing, education, health care, the environment or other matters that could come before the Vermont Senate.
Campaign finance totals are not on file for Bongartz. No figures are listed for money raised, money spent or cash on hand. Those categories can help voters assess the financial activity behind a campaign, but there are no amounts to compare in this race at this stage.
Rob Plunkett
Rob Plunkett is running as a Democrat and is an incumbent in the Bennington State Senate district. He is the other candidate identified in the contested 2026 general election.
No candidate biography is on file for Plunkett. There are also no documented policy positions that can be attributed to him in this race. As with Bongartz, the candidate information does not establish Plunkett’s positions on state spending, taxes, housing, education, health care, the environment or other issues that could reach the Vermont Senate.
Campaign finance totals are not on file for Plunkett. No figures are listed for money raised, money spent or cash on hand. The absence of those figures leaves no financial comparison between the two campaigns at this point.
What is contested
The contest currently consists of two candidates who share a Democratic Party label and incumbent status. A shared party label does not establish that candidates hold identical views, but no documented policy positions identify a difference between Bongartz and Plunkett.
The race therefore has a confirmed candidate choice without a documented issue contrast. Voters looking to compare the candidates will need to watch for campaign statements, policy platforms and other direct explanations of their priorities. Any future campaign finance figures could also show how each candidate is raising and spending money.
Election timetable
The Bennington district race will be decided as part of Vermont’s 2026 general election on Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026. Bongartz and Plunkett are both listed as candidates for the State Senate district in that election.
The key process developments before Election Day will be whether the candidates publish policy positions and whether fundraising, spending or cash-on-hand totals are recorded. Those developments would give voters more concrete points of comparison while leaving the choice itself to the general election.
