10/23/2026
While Phil Scott has relied on outside PACs and wealthy donors to fund his ad campaigns against Amanda Janoo, his Democratic opponent has been crisscrossing the state and meeting with voters face-to-face. On October 15th, she held a town hall in Saint Albans.
Healthcare and property taxes are top-of-mind for most Vermonters, and Janoo laid out her plan to address both. She proposed taxes on investment properties. That means a levy on private equity, corporate owners, and owners of luxury second homes and vacation rentals in order to promote primary homeownership. The funds raised through these extra taxes would lower the property tax burden on lower and middle-income households. If Vermonters can afford to build or buy homes, more young people will move to the state to join the ranks of much-needed professionals, especially in the healthcare field. More doctors and nurses would also help achieve the goal of universal primary and preventative care, which is another key element of Amanda Janoo’s platform.
Regarding school consolidation plans, she expressed skepticism, stating that many rural schools serve as critically important community centers. She sees them as places that can provide venues for continuing education instruction in the evenings as well as nursery and childcare locations, and thus worthy of staying open and available. It is not about taxing more, but about using the existing resources administered through various state departments and delivering them through trusted local institutions that are close to individuals and families.
During the town hall, the Democratic candidate spent a lot of time focusing on her plan to increase Vermont’s economic resiliency at a time of profound federal instability. This resiliency can be achieved by promoting small businesses and local energy production. If elected, Amanda Janoo wants to create an office of community wealth building that would support local cooperatives, regional partnerships, and small businesses by promoting local buying and facilitating access to auxiliary services such as legal, accounting, and insurance. The goal is to keep capital rooted in Vermont and see more earned dollars recirculating in the state economy, instead of being syphoned off by large corporation.
Investment in renewable energy is the other plank of her economic resiliency plan. Janoo highlighted opportunities such as community solar, whereby members of non-profit coops would buy back the energy they need and sell the surplus. That way the money would stay where it is earned, which is not the case if we rely on oil and gas producers to supply our energy.
She also paid tribute to Vermont as an agricultural state, saying her administration would actively support multigenerational farms and new farmers through partnerships and cooperatives and investing in food infrastructure. This, too, would be a part of building that economic resiliency to enable us to “protect what we love, and produce what we need.”
In one town hall, Amanda Janoo laid out more proposals that Phil Scott has done in the entire campaign. Scott clearly feels that out-of-state dark money (and blaming the Democrats for everything) is enough to earn him our vote. On November 3rd let’s show him that our vote is not to be taken for granted.
-Franklin County Democratic Committee
