2026 General Election · Tuesday, November 3, 2026

Vermont State House, District BEN 4

2 seats. 4 candidates, listed alphabetically.

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Candidates

Alford "Al" Clayton

Republican

Work: Owner, small construction business (Sandgate)

Alford "Al" Clayton of Sandgate grew up in Arlington, owns a small construction business and served in the Vermont National Guard's Bennington armor unit.

Sources for Al Clayton

Alford "Al" Clayton (The Ballot Brief, Facts summarized from a public page (not copied))
Al Clayton campaign website (Al Clayton campaign website, Facts summarized from a public page (not copied))

Michael Fernandez

Independent

Work: District manager, Bennington County Conservation District; farm operator

Michael Fernandez is district manager of the Bennington County Conservation District, operates a working farm and co-chairs the Bennington County Food Security Council; he is running as an independent in the Bennington-4 district.

Fernandez's campaign website

Sources for Fernandez

Michael Fernandez: 2026 candidate financial disclosure (as posted by VTDigger) (Vermont Secretary of State filing via DocumentCloud, Public record)
Fernandez 4 Benn 4 (Michael Fernandez campaign website, Facts summarized from a public page (not copied))

Robert Hunter

DemocraticIncumbent

In office now: State Representative, Bennington-4 district
Work: State Representative, Bennington-4 district; retired English teacher, Burr and Burton Academy; poet

Robert Hunter is the sitting State Representative for the Bennington-4 district in the Vermont General Assembly.

Robert Hunter has served in the Vermont House since 2025. He taught English at Burr and Burton Academy from 1996 to 2023, chairing its English department, after starting his teaching career in 1991, and is a published poet.

Hunter's committees

House Committee on Education
Canvassing Committee
Advisory Council on Child Poverty and Strengthening Families

Sources for Hunter

Robert Hunter: official member information (Vermont General Assembly, Public record)
Vermont General Assembly: current member roster (Vermont General Assembly, Public record)
Robert Hunter: candidate profile (BallotReady, Facts summarized from a public page (not copied))

Thomas West

Democratic

Work: Project manager, Prevention Lead Region 4, The Collaborative (substance use prevention); U.S. Army veteran

Thomas West served five years in the U.S. Army as a Russian cryptologic linguist and now manages regional substance use prevention work in southern Vermont for The Collaborative. He serves on the Manchester Planning Commission and the Southwest Vermont Regional Technical School District board.

Sources for West

Meet Thomas (Thomas West campaign website, Facts summarized from a public page (not copied))

Sources

Candidate list and race details

2026 General Election Candidate Listing (qualified candidates), last updated 9/23/2026 (Vermont Secretary of State, Elections Division, Public record)

What's included: U.S. Senate and House, statewide offices, every state legislative district on the ballot and statewide ballot measures.
Everything else: Local races (county, city, school board, judges) and anything else on your ballot are on your official sample ballot: mvp.vermont.gov.
Candidate lists: As of Wednesday, October 14, 2026.

This is not an official ballot. Confirm your registration, polling place and ballot with your election office through vote.gov.