“I’m running for Governor because Vermont deserves better than managed decline. We deserve a hopeful vision for the future and a plan to get there together.”
“In Vermont, neighbors show up for each other, and I believe we can build an economy that does that too – one that meets people’s needs and gives communities real power to shape the future.”
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Why I'm Running?
"These are dark times but they are also times that ask something of us."
Growing up, my mom would often tell the story of when she was pregnant with me. My parents were renting a tiny A-frame on a farm in rural Vermont. They had two small kids, a bun in the oven and not a lot of money. One of their neighbors must have noticed they were struggling because he gave them a side of beef (e.g. half a cow). My mom still talks about how much that kindness meant for our family during that tough time—and swears all that good beef is why I’m so tall.
But that’s Vermont. We look out for each other because that’s the only way we’re going to get through this.
The challenges we face are overwhelming. The rise of fascism and the growing threat of world war. AI and climate change. Polarization and isolation.
All while our healthcare system collapses and our communities are being hollowed out because the only people who can afford a house here now are investors and rich out of staters.
And for some reason, our Governor’s major priority this year has been school consolidation…
We need to build resilient systems now that protect people, strengthen our communities and ensure we’re ready to face whatever the future brings.
I’m running for Governor because I refuse to accept that collapse is inevitable or that the best a Governor can do is manage decline. I’ve spent my career working with governments, here and around the world, to define long-term goals and design innovative economic strategies needed to achieve them — and I believe those are governance skills Vermont needs right now.
We deserve a hopeful vision for the future and an actual plan to get there together. I’m running because too many Vermonters are working harder than ever but can’t afford to live here anymore. Housing, healthcare, and basic costs are pushing people out of the communities they love. I’m running for Governor because Vermont deserves better than managed decline. We deserve a hopeful vision for the future and a plan to get there together.
I grew up in Strafford attending Vermont town meetings with my parents and watching my community debate and decide on everything from budgets for our roads and schools to whether “Fast Eddie” should be our Constable again.
There was never any mention of political parties or ideologies, just folks yelling about mudseason and deciding how to best allocate our shared resources to take care of the whole. This is how I learned that our democracy and economy work best when people have real power over the decisions that shape their lives.
This was my introduction to politics and economics so you can imagine my horror when I went to college and learned that many people seemed to believe that the economy was governed by its own natural laws and not by us and so the government should take a “hand-off” approach.
Thus began my now decades long, love-hate relationship with economics. I grew up working class but was able to study with world-renowned economists at Oxford and Cambridge thanks to my great public education in Vermont. I learned to understand not only how economies work, but how we change them. I worked at the UN, helping governments to build resilient and diversified economies that could generate good jobs and broad-based prosperity. In recent years, I’ve worked at the wellbeing economy alliance (WEAll), focused on helping high-income countries like Canada, New Zealand and Wales to design and evaluate their economies by their contribution to social and ecological wellbeing (rather than stock market values or GDP growth rates).
I moved back to Vermont permanently in 2018 because this is home and the place that I want to live for the rest of my life.
I understood conceptually that our economic system was broken, but living in it, has been something else entirely.
We’ve build a system where basic needs like healthcare, housing and food are insanely expensive while the things we don’t need, like a river float can be found in every shape and color for less than 20 bucks (and a four-part payment plan to boot!). Now don’t get me wrong, I love a unicorn floaty as much as the next girl but I’d also love some affordable housing.
My rent in Burlington has risen by 500 dollars the last five years but like 92% of Vermonters now, I can’t afford the average house price.
I realized that if Vermont, the place that showed me what community and democracy really looks like— can’t figure out how to build an economy that works for people…
Then who will?
So I’ve focused on bringing the skills and insights I’d gained in my career so far to help build the movement we need to push for major economic policy changes here. I helped to co-found WEAV, a broad coalition working to transform Vermont’s economy into a sustainable, prosperous system that benefits everyone who calls Vermont home. I served on the boards of Rights & Democracy, the ALCU Vermont and a Steering Committee Member of the Fund Vermont’s Future Initiative, a coalition working to reform Vermont’s tax system so it is fairer, more affordable for working families, and able to fund the services Vermonters rely on, from schools and healthcare to housing and climate resilience.
And if these were normal times, I’d be happy to keep working as an economic advisor and community-organizer but things are really bad and I believe that the choices we make now are going to determine the fate of our state and the nation.
So I’m stepping up because I love this state and I know that we can illustrate that a different economic and political system is possible.
About Me
What We are Fighting For
Amanda’s platform is built on a simple premise.
"The government's job is to ensure every Vermonter has the necessary foundations to live a life of dignity and purpose."
That means free healthcare and affordable housing — tackling root causes rather than symptoms. It means a wellbeing economy that keeps wealth circulating locally to support our sole proprietors and small businesses who are the backbone of Vermont’s communities. It means deepening democracy through participatory governance, a Future Generations Act, and strong resistance to federal overreach. And it means protecting the social fabric and natural environment that make Vermont worth fighting for — rejecting forced school consolidation, investing in community life, and stewarding Vermont’s land and ecosystems for generations to come.
The Platform
Rejecting Forced School Consolidation
We need to address the root causes of rising education costs — healthcare — not close the schools that hold our communities together.
The path forward requires tackling our healthcare crisis and the growing mental health support needs of children (see the policies below) and recognizing that schools are essential not only for education but for community connection and wellbeing.
Passionate about this issue?
Free Primary Care for Every Vermonter
Free primary & preventative healthcare for all — cutting costs, bringing small town doctors back to our communities and laying the foundations for universal healthcare in Vermont.
Vermont’s healthcare system is collapsing. Vermont pays the highest insurance premiums in the country, with Vermonters spending, on average about 20% of their income on healthcare. This burden is crushing families, businesses and our state budget. Now is the time to move towards universal healthcare — which starts by bringing small town doctors back to our communities, so that everyone has access to free, high-quality primary and preventive healthcare, no matter where they live. Vermont can lead the nation by guaranteeing every resident access to free, high-quality primary and preventive healthcare — while bringing doctors back to small towns and strengthening our communities. As Governor, I’ll help Vermont lead the nation by creating the first, state-funded universal primary care system. By paying primary care doctors, nurses, mental health practitioners and physicians assistants directly — rather than relying on insurance billing — we’ll remove cost barriers for patients and allow physicians to get back to what they love, spending time with patients, not paperwork.
What this policy does
- Free care at the front door of the system — early treatment keeps people healthy
- Fewer ER visits and specialty costs — projected savings of 250–300 million per year statewide
- Local jobs and vibrant communities — towns regain local doctors, nurses, and clinics who are embedded in their community and can provide the best holistic, preventative care
- Reduced reliance on federal funding for medical care system
- Simple, fair, efficient — less paperwork, more healing
How it works
- Universal Primary Care Guarantee: Guarantees every Vermonter access to free, high-quality, primary and preventive healthcare, with no copays, deductibles, or insurance barriers, making primary care the front door of a future universal healthcare system.
- Direct Practitioner Pay Program: The State pays primary care doctors, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants directly a fair, nationally benchmarked annual salaries, eliminating insurance billing and allowing clinicians to spend more time with patients.
- Preventive Care Performance Incentives: Rather than a “fee-for-service” structure that incentivizes doctors to rush through visits, this program would provide bonuses for long-term community health outcomes, including improved chronic care, reduced emergency room use, and better preventive health metrics.
- Clinic Staffing & Care Coordination Fund: Provides dedicated funding for nurses, care coordinators, mental healthcare providers and support staff so clinicians can deliver team-based, patient-centered care.
- Small-Town Clinic & Equipment Grants: Funds clinic renovations, basic medical equipment, telehealth tools, and modern health records systems — prioritizing rural and underserved communities.
- Rural Recruitment & Retention Partnership: Offers loan repayment, signing bonuses, and relocation support for clinicians who relocate to small towns, with priority for immigrant and internationally trained providers.
- Municipal Clinic Partnership Program: Encourages towns to provide free or low-cost clinic space while the state funds renovations, bringing healthcare back into community spaces and supports downtown revitalization.
- Low-Bureaucracy Administration Model: Replaces complex insurance billing with simple, transparent public funding, cutting overhead, reducing burnout, and maximizing dollars spent on care.
How it's funded
The program is funded through a fair-share income surcharge on Vermonters who earn more than $500,000 a year, which would generate more than enough revenue to cover costs while reducing overall healthcare spending by preventing expensive emergencies and hospitalizations.
The big picture
Primary care is the front door of the healthcare system. Making it universal, free, and local improves health outcomes, lowers overall costs, and lays the groundwork for a fully universal healthcare system built on prevention, equity, and community care.
Passionate about this issue?
Homes for Vermonters — Not for Wall Street
We must ensure permanently affordable housing by curbing real estate speculation, limiting corporate ownership, and reinvesting that money into permanently affordable housing for Vermonters. It helps Vermonters stay in their communities, lowers property taxes and rents, and ensures homes are for living in — not for hoarding or flipping.
Vermont’s housing crisis didn’t happen by chance. For decades, homes have been treated like investments rather than homes. Wealthy investors, often from out of state, have bought up houses to flip, rent short-term, or hold vacant, driving up prices and property taxes. Meanwhile, the people who make Vermont work — teachers, nurses, farmers, childcare workers, and carpenters — are being priced out of the state they built. During the last census, 23% of Vermont homes were vacant, while homelessness has surged and rental vacancies remain extremely low. Communities are hollowing out, downtowns are struggling, and young people can’t afford to stay. As Governor I’ll work to ensure we get to the root of our housing crisis by prioritizing people before profit and ensuring housing supports strong, stable communities.
What this policy does
- Keeps housing affordable long-term by limiting speculation and corporate ownership
- Helps working class Vermonters build and own homes through cooperatives and self-build programs to foster community and maintain architectural beauty
- Stops corporate takeover of housing by restricting large investors and private equity firms
- Discourages vacant homes and speculative investments and reinvests that money into affordable housing
- Reduces property taxes by stabilizing prices and reducing speculative inflation
- Gives towns more control over rent stabilization and tenant protections
- Focuses new housing in village and town centers, strengthening local businesses and walkable communities
How are we going to pay for it?
Homes that are vacant, speculative, or of very high-value pay higher taxes, while primary residences are protected. That revenue flows into the Vermont Affordable Housing Trust Fund, which supports Vermonters to buy and build houses, cooperatives, and community land trusts across the state, to ensure permanent affordability of housing now and for generations to come.
The big picture
By 2035, the policy aims to dramatically reduce vacant homes, curb corporate ownership, create or preserve tens of thousands of affordable homes, stabilize rents, and foster thriving village centers that maintain Vermont’s architectural character.
Bottom line
This policy treats housing as essential infrastructure, like roads or schools, not a speculative commodity. It keeps homes in Vermonters’ hands, strengthens local economies, protects communities, and ensures that the people who live and work in Vermont can afford to stay.
Passionate about this issue?
Keep Vermont's Wealth in Vermont
Community Wealth Building to strengthen Vermont's economy from the ground up, revitalizing our local economies by supporting small businesses, farmers, co-ops, and entrepreneurs so money circulates in our communities instead of flowing to distant corporations.
Vermont’s economy works best when local people own local businesses, land, and institutions. But for decades the wealth generated in Vermont, through our work, housing, healthcare, food, and energy, has increasingly flowed out of our communities to distant corporations, shareholders, and investors. This has left many towns with fewer good jobs, hollowed out main streets, and less control over their own futures. The Community Wealth Building is a local economic development approach that can reverse these trends by keeping money, ownership, and decision-making rooted locally. It treats local businesses, coops, land trusts, and workers as essential economic infrastructure, and builds an economy that works for everyone, not just the biggest players. 72% of Vermont Businesses are sole proprietors and 99% are small businesses and yet our system is designed for big businesses, which is backwards, we should have a system where small businesses can thrive because of our systems, not in spite of it. By expanding local ownership, keeping public dollars local, and strengthening connections between Vermont businesses, we can ensure wealth circulates close to home, creating lasting prosperity for our people and communities. A key goal of Community Wealth Building is to help Vermont businesses buy from each other, not just sell to outside markets. When a local farm buys equipment from a Vermont manufacturer, who banks locally and hires local workers, that same dollar supports multiple jobs and businesses before it ever leaves the community. The policy strengthens these local connections by:
- Helping Vermont businesses find local suppliers and customers
- Aligning public institutions, like schools, hospitals, and state agencies, to purchase from local businesses
- Supporting cooperatives and networks that allow small businesses to share services, reduce costs, and grow together The result is a stronger local multiplier effect: more jobs, more stable businesses, and more money staying in Vermont communities.
What this policy does
- Support sole proprietors and small businesses through low-interest lending, simplified taxes, shared legal and accounting services, and anti-trust legislation
- Keeps public dollars local by prioritizing Vermont-based, locally owned, and cooperative businesses in state and municipal purchasing
- Builds shared community assets, like housing, childcare centers, municipal energy systems, food infrastructure, and broadband, that generate long-term local benefits instead of private extraction
- Improve job quality and wages by setting living wage standards for state employment and public contracts, encouraging higher pay and better working conditions across the economy
- Protects land and property for community use by expanding community land trusts and giving communities stronger tools to steward land for long-term public benefit
- Supports rural and small-town resilience by anchoring jobs, services, and ownership in the places Vermonters call home
- Expands local ownership by supporting worker-owned cooperatives, employee-owned businesses, community land trusts, family farms, and locally owned businesses
How it works
- Vermont Office of Community Wealth Building and Rural Economic Development: A dedicated, cross-agency office that coordinates community wealth policies across state government, serves as a one-stop resource for towns and businesses, connects local supply with local demand, and helps scale successful local ownership models statewide.
- Cooperative & Employee Ownership Development Fund: A permanent fund supporting cooperative start-ups, employee buyouts, and the growth of existing co-ops, working in partnership with Vermont-based technical assistance organizations.
- Progressive Local Procurement Initiative: Sets clear targets and incentives for state agencies, municipalities, schools, hospitals, and universities to purchase a growing share of goods and services from Vermont businesses.
- Public Banking & Patient Capital: Establishes a mission-driven public bank or financing institution that provides long-term, low-cost capital for Vermont businesses, housing, energy, food systems, healthcare, and other community-owned assets.
- Living Wage Leadership: Sets high wages and job-quality standards for state employment and local contractors, helping raise pay and stability across the broader economy.
How it's funded
The policy is funded by strategically re-orienting our current economic development subsidies to support community wealth building, which will ultimately pay for itself and more. Pension funds, green energy returns, and partnerships with credit unions and community lenders help multiply impact while keeping capital rooted in Vermont.
The big picture
Community wealth building strengthens Vermont’s economy from the ground up. It creates stable jobs, supports small businesses, revitalizes town centers, reduces inequality, and aligns economic development with climate and housing goals. Most importantly, it gives Vermonters real ownership and control over the systems that shape their lives.
Bottom line
This policy builds an economy where wealth stays local, work is rewarded, communities are resilient, and Vermont’s future is shaped by the people who live here — not by distant corporations or investors.
Passionate about this issue?
Build the Economy of the Future — Right Here in Vermont
Green industrial Policy for Vermont builds the economy of the future by growing clean, durable, Vermont-made industries that create good jobs and protect the planet.
Vermont already has a head start on the clean, resilient economy the future demands. Homegrown companies like Beta Technologies, SunCommon, Seventh Generation, Darn Tough, and Caledonia Spirits show that Vermont businesses can compete globally while putting workers, communities, and the planet first. These companies share a common approach: they build things that last, treat workers fairly, design for reuse and repair, and see environmental responsibility as a goal — not a burden. Green Industrial Policy would focus positioning Vermont as a leader in clean manufacturing, circular production, and durable goods so that we can create good jobs and meaningful work for generations to come.
What this policy does
- Builds clean industries in Vermont by supporting businesses that design low-carbon, energy-efficient, and climate-resilient products, from regenerative agriculture and renewable energy to advanced materials and sustainable consumer goods
- Rewards products that last by prioritizing companies that offer long-lasting, repairable, and lifetime-warranty products that reduce waste and save consumers money over time
- Supports circular and regenerative production, where materials are reused, recycled, or safely returned to the environment, cutting waste and lowering costs
- Creates good, stable jobs by tying public support to living wages, strong benefits, and worker voice
- Keeps ownership and supply chains local, strengthening Vermont-based manufacturing networks and suppliers so more value stays in state
- Helps Vermont businesses scale without selling out to distant corporations or moving production elsewhere
Key programs and tools
- Vermont Green Industry Fund: A permanent public fund that provides grants, low-interest loans, and patient capital to Vermont-based green economy businesses, and climate-aligned startups.
- Circular Economy & Repair Initiative: Supports product repair, remanufacturing, reuse, and recycling hubs, extending product life, reducing waste, and creating skilled local jobs.
- Green Workforce & Apprenticeship Program: Expands paid apprenticeships and training partnerships with technical schools, unions, and employers to prepare Vermonters for cleaner production and skilled trades careers.
- Lifetime Value & Durability Certification: Voluntary state recognition of products designed to last — highlighting Vermont companies that build quality over quantity and rewarding responsible production.
- Regenerative Agriculture & Local Food Systems Initiative: Invests in Vermont farmers using regenerative practices that rebuild soil health, cut emissions, and strengthen rural economies — while connecting farms to local processors, manufacturers, and institutions so more of those dollars stays in Vermont (see community wealth building).
- Green Business & B-Corp Tax Incentives: Provides targeted tax credits and incentives for Vermont-based B-Corps and businesses that meet strong environmental, durability, and worker standards — rewarding companies that put sustainability, fairness, and long-term value at the core of their business model.
- University–Industry Green R&D Partnerships: Creates strategic research and development partnerships between Vermont businesses and institutions like the University of Vermont to accelerate innovation in clean manufacturing, biomimicry, circular design, and nature-based solutions, helping Vermont ideas move from research labs to local production.
The big picture
This policy positions Vermont as a national leader in the next generation of American manufacturing — clean, durable, circular, and community-rooted. It creates good jobs, reduces emissions, strengthens local supply chains, and proves that climate action and economic prosperity can go hand in hand.
Bottom line
Vermont can build an economy that lasts — by making high-quality goods, supporting workers and communities, and leading the transition to a clean, resilient future.
Passionate about this issue?
Protecting & Revitalizing Democracy
The threats to our democracy are real — but so is our power to revitalize it. We can't rely on DC politicians to protect us from authoritarianism. We need to protect and use our states rights to fulfil our duty as a bulwark against authoritarianism and a living laboratory of democracy. In Vermont, we already have the tools: the town meeting, where neighbors gather to debate, decide, and dream together. Let's deepen and expand that tradition, bringing participatory democracy to every level of governance. Vermont can lead the way in renewing American democracy — by giving power back to the people, strengthening Town Meeting, and ensuring government works for the long-term well-being of our communities and future generations.
Vermont already has something many places have lost: a living tradition of democracy rooted in Town Meeting, where neighbors gather to debate, decide, and take responsibility for their communities. At a moment when people across the country are losing faith in democratic institutions, Vermont has a chance to show what democracy can look like when power truly rests with the people. This proposal builds on Vermont’s unique democratic tradition while updating it for modern life. By giving Town Meetings more resources and decision-making power, engaging Vermonters in defining long-term goals for the state, and holding the government accountable to working in service of the people, Vermont can demonstrate how strong local democracy and long-term planning can go hand in hand. The goal is simple: Vermonters decide where we’re headed. Communities decide how to get there. The government is accountable for delivering results.
What this policy does
- Returns power to Town Meetings by making participation easier, more accessible and resourcing local communities to have real influence over statewide priorities and policies
- Engages Vermonters in defining clear long-term goals for the state so Vermont has a shared direction towards which we’re heading
- Ensures local control in implementation, allowing towns and regions to decide how statewide goals are achieved in ways that fit their landscapes, economies, and communities
- Holds the government accountable by requiring major policies and investments to show how they advance the goals Vermonters have collectively set
- Defends democracy, by forming a multi-state coalition of states committed to protecting civil liberties and economic self-determination
Key programs and tools
- Statewide Participatory Goal-Setting: All Vermonters are engaged in defining our long-term priorities and goals to be a compass for Vermont’s laws, budgets and investments.
- Vermont Future Generations Commissioner: A commissioner whose tenure is always longer than any political administration or cycle to hold the government to account to achieving our long-term wellbeing goals.
- Town Meeting Participation Initiative: Strengthen town meetings as the foundation of Vermont’s democracy by making it a holiday, providing childcare, meals and transportation. Allowing hybrid participation options and giving towns greater powers and pathways to influence statewide policy decisions.
The big picture
This initiative renews Vermont’s democratic tradition for the 21st century. It strengthens Town Meeting, gives Vermonters a direct voice in shaping long-term priorities, and ensures the government truly works in service of the people rather than above them. The result is a democracy that is local, participatory, and future-focused — one that empowers communities while aligning the state around shared goals. At a time when many have lost faith in our democracy, Vermont can show that when people have real power and real responsibility, democracy works.
Bottom line
Vermont can lead the way in renewing American democracy — by giving power back to the people, strengthening Town Meeting, and ensuring government works for the long-term well-being of our communities and future generations.
Passionate about this issue?
Press coverage
Janoo in the News
Rather than the standard slate of political endorsements, this campaign is seeking support from every town in Vermont, all 251 of them. Town by town, neighbor by neighbor. Show your support for Amanda's vision for Vermont.
Media
The Vermont We Believe In
This campaign is rooted in a simple belief: Vermont deserves more than managed decline—we deserve a hopeful vision for the future and a path to get there together. Amanda Janoo’s campaign for Governor is guided by three core values:
Advancing a bold, hopeful vision for Vermont
Right now, our politics seem stuck reacting to one crisis after another. This campaign is about changing that, by naming a clear, positive vision for Vermont and empowering people to make it possible. That means ensuring everyone has the necessary foundations to live a life of dignity and purpose, protecting and revitalizing democracy through direct participation, and making decisions that honor Vermont’s greatest strengths: strong communities and our natural environment.
Building connection and resilience, not just winning votes
In a time of growing loneliness, polarization, and uncertainty, social connection is not a “nice to have”—it’s essential. This campaign prioritizes the relational over the transactional. We’ll use house parties, community gatherings, and shared projects to connect people with each other, not just the candidate. We are listening to Vermonters’ shared values and visions, amplifying what unites us and inspires us, and helping build real resilience through community connections.
A call-in culture rooted in belonging, and fun
If it’s not fun, it’s not sustainable. In order to achieve the critical mass necessary to make meaningful change, we need an inviting, joyful movement for justice that is welcoming to all. This campaign aims to foster a cultural movement grounded in belonging by bringing in artists, farmers, brewers, creatives, and neighbors to help organize barn parties, hog roasts, and fun events across the state. We want to invite meaningful participation and in-kind contributions to ensure this campaign is collectively owned, modeling the kind of sharing, care, and collective responsibility we want to see in Vermont’s future.
This campaign is not about gaining power — it’s about redistributing power: returning it from corporate boardrooms and political backrooms to the communities, workers, and families who make Vermont what it is.
When we do, Vermont can once again be a beacon of hope — for our country, and for the world.