Amanda Janoo

Amanda Janoo is the Democratic nominee for governor, an economist and first-time candidate who has worked in economic development for the United Nations and with the Wellbeing Economy Alliance.[1][3] She proposes higher taxes on top earners, second homes and large tech companies' digital advertising revenue; she says the income surcharge would fund free primary and preventive health care and second-home revenue would reduce property taxes.[1][2]

Amanda Janoo was born on a farm in rural Vermont and raised in South Strafford; according to her campaign, her father immigrated from Malaysia and worked as a civil engineer.[4] She received a bachelor's degree in political science and global political economy from Macalester College in 2010 and a master of philosophy from the University of Cambridge in 2013.[5][4] Her campaign says she was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship for research with India's Self-Employed Women's Association and a Family Economic Security Fellowship with New America.[4]

Janoo began her career working with the United Nations and international development organizations as an industrial policy and structural transformation specialist.[4][5] She is now economics and policy lead for the Wellbeing Economy Alliance, a global network, and according to her campaign has advised governments including Scotland, Wales, Finland, New Zealand and Canada.[4][5] In Vermont she co-founded the Wellbeing Economy Alliance of Vermont and has served on the boards of the ACLU of Vermont and Rights & Democracy Vermont.[4]

Janoo rents an apartment in Burlington, which her campaign says is because she has been priced out of buying a home in the community where she grew up.[4] She won the Democratic nomination for governor in August 2026.[3]

Researched from the cited sources on 2026-10-21.