Macalester alum Amanda Janoo ’10 announced on Tuesday, March 10, that she would be entering Vermont’s gubernatorial race. She’s the first Democratic candidate to announce a bid to potentially challenge Republican incumbent Phil Scott.
Janoo was raised in rural Vermont and studied political science at Macalester before getting her graduate degree in economics at the University of Cambridge. She was a Fulbright Scholar in India, focusing on the textile industry, and she worked at the United Nations advising governments on building resilient economies.
She spent six years as Economic and Policy lead at the Wellbeing Economy Alliance in Scotland before moving back to Vermont in 2018. Since her return to the state, she has founded the Wellbeing Economic Alliance of Vermont and joined the board of the American Civil Liberties Union of Vermont.
“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,” Janoo’s website states. “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.”
Her policy goals include rejecting school consolidation, implementing free primary care healthcare, investing in affordable housing and protecting small businesses in local economies.
At Macalester, she signed an open letter to former college President Brian Rosenberg calling for the reinstatement of needs-blind admissions.
Professor Julie Dolan, who taught Janoo’s honors colloquium, described her as an active member of Macalester’s community.
“She impressed me as somebody who was super engaged in the work she was doing,” Dolan said. “I remember her as also being super invested in all kinds of things happening on campus.”
According to Vermont newspaper Seven Days, other potential democratic campaigners include State Treasurer Mike Pieciak and University of Vermont Medical Center board chair Aly Richards, but neither has officially announced a bid.
Challenging the incumbent will be difficult. Scott won his 2024 election with 73.6 percent of the vote; it was his fifth term and the largest margin of victory in Vermont’s history. As of February 2026, Scott is the most popular governor in the country, polling at a 74 percent approval rating according to a Morning Consult study. He’s held that title for 14 consecutive quarters.
Political Science professor emeritus David Blaney, who was Janoo’s advisor, wrote in an email to The Mac Weekly that Janoo “brought a no-holds barred spirit to class discussion that pushed us all to think through issues more deeply.” “
When she called me about 10 days ago telling me that she was running for governor,” he continued, “I reminded her that she told me when I became her adviser that her goal was to be the Governor of Vermont. She recognizes that this run is a bit of a longshot but thinks the issues she raises in her platform need to be put out there now. I agree.”
Janoo concluded the acknowledgements section of her honors thesis, titled “In Rebellion of Market Society,” with: “I would like to thank David Blaney for being my supervisor for this thesis; you have changed the way I see the world and someday I hope that I can influence it in a way that will make you proud.”
