Pat Winburn knows you might not have heard of him.
He also knows that lack of name recognition tends to be an impediment when you’re running for the highest office in the state.
But Winburn, a personal injury lawyer from Bennington, says he thinks Vermonters want a political outsider in the governor’s office. And he’s spent nearly $200,000 of his own money on his campaign for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination.
2020 Primary Debates: Democratic Candidates For Governor
Winburn Law Offices sits on a busy stretch of Main Street in the heart of downtown Bennington. Its namesake purchased this 110-year-old building about 15 years ago, and Winburn has invested considerable time and resources in its historic restoration.
“It’d been used as a grocery store at one point, and then it was a drug store, and then it was a jewelry store, and then it was a radio station for awhile,” Winburn said during a recent interview at his office.
"He has gotten some really impressive verdicts over the years, and I think he has a reputation among the insurance carriers as a trial lawyer to be wary of." - Bennington Lawyer David Silver
The interior walls of the three-story building are covered almost completely in framed antique photographs, maps and artworks that he and his wife, Kim, have purchased at auctions over the years. There’s even an American Revolutionary War rifle hanging high on the wall of his personal office.
Winburn says he’s always been drawn to old objects.
“I don’t know, probably an interest in history, you know, like historic things,” Winburn says. “I like to see things restored back to the way they used to be.”
Which is one reason Winburn and his wife decided to move their young family from southern Florida to Vermont in 1986, during the height of an armed conflict in Miami between cocaine cartels and the government.
“I said to people that we moved to Vermont because I wanted my kids to grow up in Mayberry, not in Miami Vice, you know?” Winburn says.
In the three-and-half decades since he arrived here, Winburn has established himself as one of the state’s preeminent personal injury lawyers, according to David Silver, a competitor and colleague of Winburn’s.
“You know, I hope he becomes governor, so that I can finally get some of the business that he gets, because he gets the lion’s share of the personal injury business,” Silver says.
Silver says Winburn is a low-key, nice guy with jurors and clients. But put him at the negotiating table with insurance industry defense lawyers, Silver said, and Winburn “takes no prisoners.”
"He has gotten some really impressive verdicts over the years, and I think he has a reputation among the insurance carriers as a trial lawyer to be wary of,” Silver says.
Winburn began his career representing the insurance carriers he’s now going up against. And he says he was really good at minimizing payouts to injured plaintiffs.
“All the partners and all the lawyers would slap me on the back - ‘Hey, Pat, great job,’ you know? But then I’d look at the plaintiff that I had just beat and I’d think, ‘You know, you really deserve to get some compensation for what you went through,’” Winburn says.
Winburn says he realized how far he’ strayed from the principles that drew him to the law.
“I’ve always seen my role as representing the powerless against the powerful,” Winburn says.
And so he switched sides, and used his experience as an insurance industry defense lawyer to win seven-figure settlements in some cases for his injured clients - such as the $2 million settlement he brokered in 2017 for an elderly factory worker who was struck by a van while riding his bike on Route 7 in Pownal.
More from VPR: Democratic Gubernatorial Primary Race 2020: Pat Winburn
“I take it seriously and I want to get justice for my client,” Winburn says. “And if the insurance company just wants to settle and not pay what they owe, then I would rather take it to trial.”
Winburn first arrived on the statewide political scene when he filed his paperwork to run for governor in February. Save for a few stints as a school board member and village trustee in Old Bennington, Winburn has never run for or held any political office of note (though he was student body president at George Washington University).
He decided to introduce himself to voters by producing nearly a dozen television ads, many of which feature his pet dog, named Alfie.
“People should be the person that their dog thinks they are. Politicians should be the people their dogs think they are,” Winburn says in one ad.
He’s had little success attracting financial contributions from the primary voters he’s courting. Of the $194,000 he raised so far, all but $4,000 has come from his own pocket.
Winburn says that’s a good thing, because it means he won’t be susceptible to the influence of special interests in Montpelier.
"When you're a governor, I presume you have lobbyists that come to you and say, you know, 'Vote for this, vote for that, I'll donate to your campaign.' I'm not beholden to anybody." - Pat Winburn, Democratic gubernatorial candidate
“When you’re a governor, I presume you have lobbyists that come to you and say, you know, 'Vote for this, vote for that, I’ll donate to your campaign,’” Winburn says. “I’m not beholden to anybody.”
Winburn says his progressive politics are styled after Bernie Sanders. He supports Medicare for All, a green new deal, and a $15 minimum wage.
He also wants to add a penny to the state sales tax, to raise money for government programs. And he says he’ll be able to forge progress that has so far eluded longer-serving Democrats in Montpelier.
“You know, everybody should be able to run for governor, and that’s what the constitution contemplates, is that … just the ordinary citizen should be in charge of the government,” Winburn says.
Winburn says the key to great lawyering is communicating with jurors, and conducting yourself in ways that earn their confidence and trust.
In that respect, he says, electoral politics isn’t so far afield from the law.
“You know, I have always trusted juries,” Winburn says. “They haven’t always agreed with me, but most of the time they have.”
Now, he’s hoping the voters of Vermont will side with him on Aug. 11.
Find VPR's Vermont Primary 2020 coverage, including a full debate schedule, here.
Have questions, comments or tips? Send us a message or get in touch with reporter Peter Hirschfeld @PeteHirschfeld.
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