WHITE RIVER JUNCTION — Nine candidates will compete in the primary election in August for three Windsor County seats in the Vermont Senate — including the one held by Sen. Dick McCormack, who is retiring after more than 30 years of legislative service.

Windsor County is one of five counties in Vermont that will have open state Senate races as a result of departing incumbent senators. The other counties are Bennington, Caledonia, Grand Isle and Orleans.

Two candidates in the three-member Windsor Senate district are incumbents: Sen. Alison Clarkson, D-Woodstock, and Sen. Becca White, D-Hartford.

In addition, three other Democratic candidates filed to run in the primary — Joe Major, Hartford town treasurer; Marc Nemeth, an attorney from South Royalton; and Justin Tuthill, of Pomfret.

Tuthill previously ran as a registered Republican, including for the nomination for U.S. Congress in 2020, which he lost to Miriam Berry, of Essex Junction.

On the Republican side, four candidates will be on the primary ballot for the Windsor senate district — Andrea Murray, of Weathersfield; Jack Williams, of Weathersfield; Robert Ruhlin, of Cavendish; and Jonathan Gleason, from Ludlow.

Voters will be asked to choose their top three candidates. The three top vote-getters in each party will face off in the general election in November.

McCormack, 76, announced in March that he would retire at the end of his current term. The Democrat from Bethel was first elected to the Senate in 1989 and served until 2003, when he took a hiatus. He returned to the Senate in 2007 and has served since.

Other state legislative races in Vermont’s Upper Valley voting districts won’t become competitive until the general election in November, as candidates running for House seats on primary election ballots are running unopposed, as are candidates running for Senate in Orange County District 1.

In the Windsor 2 House race, Mark Yuengling, of Weathersfield, is running uncontested in the Democratic primary to succeed Rep. John Arrison, of Weathersfield, who is not seeking reelection.

VL Coffin, a U.S. Army veteran from Cavendish, is running uncontested on the Republican primary ballot.

The filing deadline for the primary election ballot was on Thursday and clerks in the Vermont Secretary of State’s office are still updating the list of filed candidates on the state website, Mark Houle, of the Secretary of State’s office said in an email on Monday.

For example, Rep. Kevin “Coach” Christie, D-Hartford, who represents the Windsor 6 district, was not included on the spreadsheet of filed candidates as of Monday afternoon.

Christie confirmed that he is running for reelection, in a phone interview on Monday.

His paperwork is being held because his petition from district voters to support his candidacy — a required document of all candidates for state or county office — is short one signature. More specifically, Christie was informed that one of his required 50 signatures was from a person who has since moved to New Hampshire.

Christie said he plans to get a new signature from a voter this evening and refile the petition. The state allows candidates 10 days after the filing deadline to correct an issue in their paperwork, Christie said.

The primary election will be on Tuesday, Aug. 13.

The general election will be on Tuesday, Nov. 5.

Patrick Adrian may be reached at padrian@ vnews.com or 603-727-3216.