STRAFFORD — Democrat Amanda Janoo kicked off her campaign for Vermont governor in her hometown this week.
Janoo, a 38-year-old Burlington resident, began a 14-county campaign tour Tuesday in Strafford. She is the first candidate to formally enter the 2026 race.
During her speech outside the Strafford Town House on Brook Road, Janoo said that her introduction to politics was attending Town Meetings in Strafford as a child. She recalled watching the community debate and decide how to allocate resources to best serve the population as a whole.
“These systems are best working when they’re truly governed by the people and for the people,” said Janoo.
Nearly 100 people attended Janoo’s rally, where she expressed her excitement to run in the race, coupled with concern over the cost of living in Vermont.
Janoo pointed to policy decisions as a driving force behind the struggle for some in Vermont to afford essentials.
“We built this system where it’s easier to make money off of money than off of actual hard work. We built a system that concentrates power instead of sharing it,” Janoo said in her speech.
Janoo said she opposes Republican Gov. Phil Scott’s education reform efforts focused on school consolidation in part because she said it fails to address the high cost of health care, which is a primary cost driver. Her economic expertise and background will be valuable at a time when affordability is a major crisis, she said.
Amanda Wheeler, Scott’s press secretary, did not respond to an emailed request for comment by deadline Thursday.
The only office Janoo has held is justice of the peace in Burlington.
Scott is currently serving his fifth, two-year term in office, and has yet to launch a campaign for reelection. Though Democrats largely control the state Legislature, Scott has the highest approval rating, currently at 74%, of any governor in the U.S. based on polling by the Morning Consult.
While currently a Burlington resident, Janoo’s roots are in the Upper Valley. She attended Strafford’s Newton School and graduated Hanover High School in 2005 before attending Macalester College in Minnesota. She then became a Fulbright researcher and studied development economics at the University of Cambridge in the U.K.
While Janoo’s family no longer lives in Strafford, she said she returns often to visit friends. Her older sister, Angela Janoo, attended the rally.
Stephen Marx, who’s been a Strafford resident for 40 years, appreciated the positivity of Janoo’s campaign, he said at the rally. Marx had not seen Janoo for 20 years, but said she went to school with his daughter. Marx, himself, ran for governor in 2018 against Scott.
He added that there is a dire need for young people in politics, and for a governor with a different agenda.
“We’ve got a governor who now wants to bring radioactive material back into the state,” said Marx, referring to Scott’s push for nuclear power.
In his budget address on Jan. 20, Scott pointed to nuclear as a proven renewable and clean source of energy.
Janoo supports the localization of energy systems, adding that Vermont’s dependence on Canada for some of its power puts the state in a vulnerable position. For example, she suggested exploring ways to create community renewable micro grids.
“I am not a proponent of nuclear power but I do believe we need to improve our energy self-sufficiency,” Janoo said Thursday by phone.
Janoo has spent her career working with communities and governments around the world to redesign their economies, she said. She was an industrial policy expert and structural transformation expert for the United Nations, economics policy expert at the African Development Bank and now an economics and policy lead at Wellbeing Economy Alliance.
The Wellbeing Economy Alliance, a global nonprofit, created a coalition of governments called the Wellbeing Economy Governments. The coalition works with the governments of New Zealand, Iceland, Scotland, Wales, Finland and Canada to help transform their policies with a people-powered approach.
Janoo said Scott has taken the wrong approach to addressing affordability issues.
Last year, Scott backed Act 73, which seeks to regionalize school districts.
Janoo believes forced school consolidation could be dangerous for towns like Strafford, where the K-8 Newton School is at the center of the community. Schools help keep the town alive, she said.
“Once you close the schools, you’re pretty much giving up on the town,” said Janoo.
Act 73 was introduced in part to help cut costs in education. But Janoo said school consolidation is a solution to the wrong problem.
“The logic for doing it doesn’t stand up. The argument is that it’s going to save money and so reduce people’s property taxes. But the reality is, the driver of our costs is health care,” said Janoo.
Janoo serves on the steering committee of the Fair Share Vermont coalition, which is advocating for the imposition of a 3% surcharge on individual Vermonters’ earnings above $500,000. If successful, Janoo said these funds could be used to pay primary care physicians directly, incentivizing them to stay in rural communities. The fee-for-service structure is not working, she said.
“All of the doctors and primary care physicians and nurse practitioners that I’ve talked to love this idea. They really hate how much of their life is spent dealing with insurance, paperwork and just rushing through patients,” said Janoo.
Scott opposes the tax.
“We have a pretty progressive tax policy here in the state already,” Scott said in a 2023 press conference. “I’m not sure how many more of the wealthy there are, and how much more we’re going to reap from them without them moving.”
Strafford farmer Asa Manning and longtime friend of Janoo gave testimony during Janoo’s rally. He explained how his family returned to Strafford in 2018 to bring back the land that his family farm once sat on for three generations. In doing so, Manning and his family came to understand Vermont’s affordability crisis firsthand.
“Together, we make ends meet and make it all work,” said Manning. “However, we are left with nothing to be able to create a savings or think about the basic things like health insurance.”
While medical care for his three children is covered by a state program, Manning and his wife have gone for more than 10 years without health insurance. This was a sacrifice they made in order to pay their mortgage and taxes. He supports the message of Janoo’s campaign, as it speaks to working families like his.
“As taxes continue to increase and costs of everything in our daily life rise, it is all we can do to continue to afford to live our dream of working our land and raising our family on our farm in this community,” said Manning.
The general election will take place on Nov. 3, with a primary election scheduled for Aug. 11. To be placed on the primary ballot, major party candidates must file between April 27 and the deadline of May 28.