Vermont Governor 2026: the ads, and who's paying for them
Phil Scott (Republican), Amanda Janoo (Democrat), Dean Roy (Freedom and Unity), June Goodband (Peace and Justice) and Brian Judd (independent) are the candidates for governor of Vermont in the November 3, 2026 general election. Phil Scott is the incumbent. Semblen has analyzed 16 ads in this race; 3 used at least one manipulation technique, most often loaded language and appeal to fear.
Phil Scott (REP, incumbent), Amanda Janoo (DEM), Dean Roy (FU), June Goodband (PJ), Brian Judd (IND).
On the ballot as listed by Vermont Secretary of State, 2026 General Election Candidate Listing. 16 ads analyzed, 3 with at least one technique in the copy.
Newest first. The paid-for-by line is the advertiser's own filing. Updated 2026-10-08.
$3,800–6,473 on all ads, $0–495 on flagged ads · Meta reports ranges; these are the sums of their ends
Example
“With your support, it can be again” — Appeal to Fear, paid for by Andrew Klein For Vermont
· the flagged ad with the highest reported spend that shows the most common technique
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Leaving out the softer ones (loaded language, glittering generalities, slogans, exaggeration, repetition): 19% of ads.
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Money in this race
Candidates for governor report their fundraising to Vermont's state campaign-finance office, not the FEC. This page doesn't cover those reports yet, so it shows no money figures.
The ads
16 ads, newest first.
Showing the 1 ad paid for by Andrew Klein For Vermont. Show all 16 ads
Paid for by Andrew Klein For Vermontfrom 2026-10-02 to 2026-10-082 variantsspend $0–19816,000–21,998 impressions
Mark your calendars and join us for an evening with Governor Phil Scott, Lieutenant Governor John Rodgers, former Governor Jim Douglas, Senator Steve Heffernan and me — Wednesday, Oct. 7, 5–8 p.m. at American Legion Post #14 in Vergennes.
Vermont was once a place where families could thrive and their children could stay. With your support, it can be again.
Phil Scott for Vermont John Rodgers for Vermont
Loaded Language: The phrase 'families could thrive' uses emotionally positive language to evoke nostalgia and imply a lost golden age — for example: thrive
Appeal to Fear: The sentence implies that without the reader's support, Vermont will not return to its former state, creating mild anxiety about inaction — for example: it can be again
False Urgency: The appeal to the reader's support frames action as necessary to restore a lost condition, implying urgency around participation — for example: With your support, it can be again
Loaded Language
Appeal to Fear
False Urgency
Looks up the ad's factual claims in fact-checkers, primary sources and wire reporting. Takes up to a minute.
An email when new ads come in from either side or the outside groups: the techniques, the words doing the work, and who paid. And each debate's analysis the morning after. One-click unsubscribe.
An ad is on this page because its own "Paid for by" line is a campaign in this race; or it ran mostly in VT and names a nominee for governor — unless its sponsor is a campaign for some other office (a U.S. Senate or House campaign included), or it also names VT's Senate nominees, in which case it is on the Senate race's page. Ads from outside groups appear alongside the campaigns' own.
The candidates are the ones certified for the November ballot, from the source linked at the top. Governors are state offices, so there are no FEC filings behind this page: no money figures, and outside groups are placed on a side only when they are a campaign or a party committee.
Campaigns run one text as many separate ads. Identical text from the same sponsor is one card here, marked with its number of variants.
A technique is a specific manipulative move in the wording, found by our model and explained in one line. It is not a claim that the ad is false.
Claims are checked when a reader asks: press "Check this ad's claims" on a card. The check runs once and its result is shown to everyone afterwards. The ten ads with the most money behind them in each race are checked ahead of time.
Claim verdicts say what the cited sources say. A verdict that an ad is wrong or misleading is shown only when it cites an established fact-checker or an institutional record — Congress, a federal agency, a court — and its confidence is not low; a weaker one is not shown at all. Each verdict shows what it rests on and how confident it is. If we got one wrong, press Disagree: a verdict that readers dispute and no one defends comes down.
Video ads come from the campaigns' own YouTube channels; the transcript is analyzed. Meta ads are analyzed on their text; their video and images are not, yet.
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