Aly Richards, former CEO of Let’s Grow Kids, in Montpelier on Oct. 28, 2025. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger
Aly Richards, who led a lobbying group that won major increases to public child care funding in Vermont over the past decade, is running to be the state’s next governor, she announced Monday.
The former CEO of Let’s Grow Kids is the second Democrat to launch a bid for governor this year. Amanda Janoo, an economist from Strafford, announced her campaign last month and has already reported raising a substantial amount of campaign cash.
Richards grew up in Newbury and now lives in Montpelier. Before taking the helm of the child care juggernaut, she worked in the office of former Democratic Gov. Peter Shumlin, finishing her tenure there in 2015 as deputy chief of staff.
It’s not clear yet whether Richards or Janoo would face Republican Gov. Phil Scott in the general election this fall. Scott hasn’t announced whether he will seek a sixth two-year term.
If Scott does run again, the winner of this year’s Democratic primary would face a tough fight. None of the last three Democrats to challenge Scott garnered more than 30% of the general election vote, and Scott remains deeply popular across Vermont.
But Richards made the case in an interview that Scott hasn’t done enough to fix the problems he regularly calls out, namely that the state is unaffordable, it doesn’t have enough housing and its demographic trends are spiraling in the wrong direction.
“I think the diagnosis of the challenges has been correct. I think the methods have not worked,” she said. “So, we need a new approach.”
Richards said the success of the Let’s Grow Kids campaign — including a 2023 law that created a new payroll tax to support income-based child care subsidies — shows that she has the political skills to tackle major state issues.
“I don’t think we have two more years to waste. And I am just feeling like, ‘put me in, coach,’” she said. “I am a problem solver.”
This story will be updated.
