On September 5th, Bennington Democrats opened their headquarters for the upcoming election on November 3rd. Dozens of people crowded into the headquarters to watch speeches from three candidates: Tim Ashe, who was running for State Auditor, Molly Gray for Lieutenant Governor, and Amanda Janoo for Governor. President of Bennington County Democrats, Jonathan West, kicked off celebrations. “We can’t just exist on Zoom. We can’t just email and text. We have to make connections,” he said regarding the necessity to have a headquarters space and events like this.
Molly Gray led a call-and-response chant for the audience. When she said, “Fired up!” we said, “Ready to go!” Before Amanda Janoo’s speech, someone had shouted “We love you Amanda!” followed by cheers and laughter. Senator Seth Bongartz, who is running for re-election this term, said, “I have been involved in politics for quite a while, and I’ve never seen a Democratic Party event with this much energy.” So, what makes this term so different from the others?
Phil Scott has been governor of Vermont since 2017. By the end of this term, he would have been in office for 10 years. Currently, he is the second longest-running incumbent Governor in America, just short of Greg Abbott. Despite Vermont’s blue reputation, its Republican governor has had some of the highest approval ratings in the country. In 2022, he maintained a 60% approval rating, and as of July this year, he still had the highest approval rating in the country. However, as of September 28th, Scott’s approval rating has dropped by 15 points. Even with their most popular governor, Vermonters are tired.
Affordability is the leading issue for Vermonters today, and it is clear from the campaigns spearheaded on September 5th. Tim Ashe, in his campaign for Auditor, argued that Vermonters are paying too much for healthcare. And this term, both Molly Gray and Amanda Janoo are proposing universal healthcare for Vermont. Amanda Janoo, in particular, plans to implement universal primary care within her first term as a step toward universal healthcare. Primary care is healthcare covered by your Primary Care Practitioner, or the doctor you see who would take care of general health issues, conduct physicals, and refer you to specialists if needed. Currently, there are no states that have universal healthcare, even if it’s just primary care. So, if Vermont were to implement this, it would be huge.
In light of the massive cuts the Trump administration has given to many programs over the past year, the Democratic Party has shifted away from relying on Federal aid in order to administer programs. Self-sufficiency is the goal now for Vermont. “I know that in this moment, together, we have what we need, but it’s about investing in our local businesses and our communities. It’s about protecting our small schools and our small farms,” said Janoo, “things that are ultimately going to ensure our long-term resiliency here, so that no matter what things come, we can be able to weather them and also illustrate a way forward.”
Ironically, this is a rather conservative belief. This shift towards self-sufficiency is predicated on investing in resources we already have. We are literally conserving cultural practices in Vermont to make it great. Even self-reliance is a rather conservative goal, predicated on independence. However, what makes this method radically different from the status quo is that Janoo isn’t operating on the assumption of austerity.
“The standard economic playbook, the one that we’ve been using for the last decade, if not longer, is always starting from very much a deficit-based mindset,” said Janoo. “It’s always assuming we’re poor or we’re struggling because we lack something.” This expectation that a state is always lacking something leads to policies that just cut funding to important resources for communities, instead of investing in the places that make Vermont thrive. So, this self-sufficiency model is instrumental in pushing for radical policies like universal healthcare.
Self-sufficiency is also a way to ensure autonomy for Vermonters at a time when democracy is under threat. With Trump withholding funding to Vermont programs because of “unlawful DEI practices,” federal funding for basic things like medical research and flood prevention is conditional on Trump’s ideology. If Vermont is dependent on these things in order to survive, what does this mean for Vermonters’ rights in a democracy? In her speech, Molly Gray asked where in this country rights will still be protected. For her, and for everyone in Bennington County Democratic Headquarters, it will be Vermont.
Despite this energy and excitement, there are still a lot of challenges. When I interviewed Amanda Janoo at the Headquarters grand opening, she said the biggest challenge would “probably be just name recognition. Phil Scott’s been in politics for 25 years. So, everybody knows who he is. I’m newer to the scene and we have a very short general election.” In the University of New Hampshire poll, Janoo and Scott led a statistical tie for favorability. However, in a newer poll conducted by Vermont Public, Scott had a lead by 10 points. 20% of people in the Vermont Public poll were undecided.
I have been campaigning for Janoo since May of this year, and name recognition has been a big part of the campaign. The last thing I want is for voters to show up to the polls not knowing who she is. Scott’s campaign has mainly been that he already is governor. So, ultimately, I want voters to be informed that there are other options.
When I asked Jonathan West about challenges to these upcoming elections, he said, “People are really tired. The federal level has just drained us with a constant barrage of tragedy after tragedy. Our challenge is making sure that people are here…That their voice matters.” The draining feeling that many of us face can easily lead us to be idle. Unfortunately, that only benefits those who are already in power.
If you want to vote in Vermont after this, you can go to https://sos.vermont.gov/elections/voters or email me at noradyermurphy@bennington.edu. If you want to join Amanda Janoo’s campaign, please also contact me.
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