Scott's 2024 Vote Share Slips as Janoo Narrows Gap

BURLINGTON, Gov. Phil Scott marched in the Rutland Halloween Parade on Saturday, Oct. 24, posing for photos with members of the Starlights Dance Academy on a float carrying blue and yellow balloons. "This is the good part of the job," Scott said after deboarding the float.

Scott, 68, a Republican, is seeking a sixth consecutive term in office. He has spent 26 years in Vermont politics, first as a state senator and then as governor. He grew up in Barre and has pointed to Rutland as a city with similar working-class roots.

"Rutland's always been a reminder of what Barre was," Scott said. "It's a blue-collar working community with the same opportunities, same challenges."

The Vermont Public 2026 Poll, conducted in late September, put Democratic and Progressive candidate Amanda Janoo within 10 points of Scott. Other surveys show the race as a statistical dead heat. Scott won 71% of the vote in 2024.

Scott's campaign has posted messages online saying, "I know you're frustrated. I am too." Scott has blamed the Democratic majority in the Legislature for the state's problems and has called on voters to send more "common sense" lawmakers to Montpelier. In 2024, Republicans broke Democratic supermajorities in both the House and Senate.

"Once you take a stand out there and say 'Elect people of like-minded orientation,' you remind people that, 'Hey this guy's a Republican,'" said Matt Dickinson, a professor of political science at Middlebury College. Dickinson said one of Scott's vulnerabilities may be voters growing tired of a chief executive "at loggerheads" with the legislative branch.

Scott has said one reason he is running again is "unfinished business" on education reform. He proposed consolidating Vermont's 119 school districts into five and shifting control of school spending to the state. The Vermont Public 2026 Poll found 57% of Vermonters said school spending decisions should be made locally and 21% said at the state level. Among Republicans, 73% said local. The Vermont Public 2026 Poll found 57% of Vermonters said school spending decisions should be made locally and 21% said at the state level. Among Republicans, 73% said local. Mandated consolidation failed in the 2026 legislative session. A change to the funding formula would require a vote during the next biennium.

Janoo opposes the funding formula and says local communities should retain financial control over schools. The Republican Governors Association, through a pro-Scott super PAC, had spent more than $930,000 as of Monday on ads against Janoo, the most spent in Vermont by the group since 2016. Emma Shouldice, Scott's campaign spokeswoman, said his staff must remind him to take part in events: "We have to tell him: 'Well, you are the governor, sir.'" Brattleboro Rep. Emilie Kornheiser, chair of the House Committee on Ways and Means, said she is reconsidering the path forward on education legislation.