Republican Phil Scott wins record 6th term as Vermont’s governor

Updated 12:29 a.m.

MONTPELIER — Vermont’s Republican Gov. Phil Scott won reelection to a sixth term on Tuesday, defeating Democrat and Progressive Amanda Janoo in a race that proved more competitive than most voters would have imagined when Scott announced he would run again.

Janoo, an economist from Burlington running her first-ever political campaign, conceded in a speech at her election night party in Burlington around 10:50 p.m. Scott, who is 68 and lives in Berlin, has now been elected governor more times than anyone else in Vermont history, surpassing the previous record of five wins held by Democrat Howard Dean. 

The Associated Press had not yet called the race for Scott at that point. As of midnight, the AP showed him leading with about 52% of the vote to Janoo’s 46%, with nearly all votes counted.

If that result holds, it would be the governor’s narrowest margin of victory since he was first elected in 2016. His support has dropped sharply in the last two years; when he last won reelection in 2024, it was with 73% of the vote.

“Forty-eight hours ago the political pundits were writing my obituary,” Scott said in a speech Tuesday night celebrating his win at the Associated General Contractors of Vermont building in Montpelier. 

Scott, who formerly owned a construction business, also acknowledged the early results in what looked like a wave of Democratic wins across the country in Tuesday’s election. 

“It’s been a difficult night for Republicans across the nation, and unfortunately Vermont wasn’t spared,” Scott said, noting that election results were on track to again give Democrats a supermajority of seats in the Vermont Statehouse.  

Scott said he expects to have some major differences in political views between himself and Democrats in the Legislature, but he took a collaborative tone, saying he extends an invitation to legislative leaders to make progress on the state’s economy. 

The state needs more taxpayers, not more taxes, he said, and the state’s spending cannot outpace Vermonters’ ability to pay. 

“I will continue insisting the math adds up when we spend taxpayer dollars responsibly,” he said. 

Scott’s understated election night party brought out just shy of 100 people, who filled an outfitted garage. For nearly the entire night, he stayed away from the party in an adjacent room, the window to which was covered with a trash bag. The first time he showed his face was to give his speech in celebration. 

At 10:57 p.m., when news of Janoo’s concession spread, the crowd began chanting “Let’s go, Phil” before he took the podium minutes later. 

In Burlington, Janoo spoke directly about the governor in her concession speech, congratulating Scott on his win and saying, “I believe that he really wants to ensure that Vermont has a steady hand in the face of a pretty petty president.” 

“But it is also on us at this moment to make sure that we continue this momentum and this push — and hold him accountable,” Janoo said to a large crowd. “Because the vision that we’ve advanced with this campaign doesn’t end here tonight.”

Janoo organized her own election night gathering separate from one hosted by the Vermont Democratic Party. She spent most of the night at her own party — which was in a building across the street from the Democrats’ event — though also gave a speech at the party’s gathering earlier in the night. Asked why she hosted a separate party, Janoo told reporters she “just wanted to have, like, a fun party too.” 

“To be really honest with you, what we accomplished was genuinely more than I could have possibly dreamed,” she said in her concession speech. “We went from zero name recognition to, like, being pretty close.”

Polling released ahead of Election Day suggested Scott’s favorability had taken a hit, especially among Democrats, many of whom reliably voted for him in the past. Scott has acknowledged that his vision for education reform and his decision to make state employees return to regular in-person work made him less popular with some voters. 

Janoo also raised more money than Scott over the last two months of the race and generated more excitement for her campaign than any other Democratic candidate for governor in years. 

But she had a significant disadvantage: Before this year, she was virtually unknown to voters. Scott made the case on the campaign trail that voters, to the contrary, knew him well and could trust his leadership, reminding them that he was in office during the Covid-19 pandemic and the devastating floods of 2023 and 2024. 

He also made the case that even though he is a Republican, he’s stood up to President Donald Trump’s administration when he thought federal actions would hurt the state, which is something many Democratic voters have rewarded him for.

Scott also likely benefited from a large infusion of cash into the race on his behalf — $950,000 as of last week, according to campaign finance reports — from the Republican Governors Association. The national organization donated to a Vermont-based super PAC that ran pro-Scott and anti-Janoo advertising on TV and online in recent weeks. 

Looking ahead, Scott said during the campaign that he would tackle the state’s affordability issues with a package of tax cuts or credits and pushing for more deregulatory reforms to the state’s healthcare system. He also wants the state government to continue on the path his administration set out over the last two years toward a consolidated education system with larger, regional districts.

It remains to be seen, though, how much support he’ll get for those ideas from lawmakers next year.

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