Vermont primary: Christine Hallquist makes history as transgender candidate becomes Democrat governor nominee as Bernie Sanders is also victorious

The state boasts a number of unique — many of them progressive — candidates

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Christine Hallquist has become the first transgender candidate to win a major political party's nomination for governor.

As part of the primaries in Vermont, Ms Hallquist beat three other Democrats to secure the victory.

The 62-year-old Ms Hallquist is part of a wave of LGBTQ candidates seeking higher office across the US. Ms Hallquist is being supported by The Victory Fund, a political action committee that backs LGBTQ candidates across the country. The committed labelled her a “game changer.”

Before Vermont's election, only four transgender candidates had won primaries in 2018, all for house and senate seats in state legislatures, and have a general election ahead. Seventeen have lost primary or general elections and 21 have yet to face voters

Elsewhere, Bernie Sanders has won the Democratic Senate beating Folasade Adeluola as he seeks a third term in office.

With 98 per cent of precincts reporting, Mr Sanders had 94 per cent of the vote. It was not immediately clear which Republican he will face in the general election in November, given a close race between Brooke Paige and Lawrence Zupan that had just hundreds of votes in it.

Mr Sanders' win does not come as a surprise. The self-described Democratic Socialist won re-election in 2012 with about 71 per cent of the vote. Before that, in 2006, he carried about 65 per cent of the vote.

While Mr Sanders won the Democratic nomination, he is widely expected to reject it. Doing so has become a regular move for the notably independent senator over the years.

Phil Scott, the Republican governor in the reliably Democratic state, has won the GOP primary as he seeks re-election and will face Ms Hallquist.

Ethan Sonneborn is another candidate worth mentioning. He’s a 14-year-old progressive who decided to launch his campaign after violence erupted last year during a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, North Carolina. State law allows anyone who has lived in Vermont for four years to run for governor after securing enough signatures to get on the ballot, making Mr Sonneborn legally qualified despite his age. He secured more than 4,000 votes for an eight per cent share of the ballots.

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Vermont isn’t the only state that held a primary on Tuesday — Minnesota, Wisconsin and Connecticut also had elections to determine which candidates will face off come November.

[15 August 2018 05:22 · Steve Anderson]

With most of the results in, we are closing out our coverage for the evening. Thanks for reading.