Nikhil Goyal
Nikhil Goyal is a Democratic / Progressive candidate for the Vermont State Senate in the Chittenden-Central district in the November 3, 2026 general election, residing in Burlington, Vermont, where Nikhil's background includes work in Adjunct assistant sociology professor, UVM; former senior policy advisor on education, Sen. Sanders.
Campaign site
What is one part of Vermont’s economy or cost of living that needs greater attention from elected officials?: “Vermonters pay the highest health care costs in the entire country, and I have a comprehensive plan to lower costs.”
“There is no empirical evidence that mass school consolidation will yield major property tax savings. I will be closely observing the district merger committees in the coming months. That said, I do support the cooperative education service areas which can help reduce costs across districts.”
“I am deeply critical of the proposed foundation formula. I will fight to make sure that the Burlington, Winooski, and Essex schools receive their fair share of resources.”
Martine Larocque Gulick
Martine Larocque Gulick (Democratic) of Burlington is an incumbent Vermont Senator representing the Chittenden-Central district in the 2025-2026 General Assembly, and works as State Senator. High school teacher for 30 years. Eight years Burlington School Board.
Campaign site
What is one part of Vermont’s economy or cost of living that needs greater attention from elected officials?: “Vermont has some of the highest healthcare costs in the country, and those cost get transferred to Vermonters. We see them in our high insurance premiums and in our property taxes, and they make living in Vermont an expensive proposition and out of reach for many would like to live and work here.”
“The legislature took steps to stop the flow of public dollars out of the country. We also took steps to limit the number of private schools that are funded with public dollars and greatly reduced public dollars flowing to other states.”
“The provision mentioned here is called a "foundation formula." I have several reservations. First, I support local school boards and communities setting their budgets and voting on them.”
Louis "Louie" Manno
Louis "Louie" Manno is a Republican candidate for the Vermont State Senate in the Chittenden-Central district in the November 3, 2026 general election, residing in Burlington, Vermont, where Louis's background includes work in Hall of Fame broadcaster, former business owner, voice actor, writer, producer.
“I would improve the community health center system.”
What do you think is the greatest opportunity for Vermont to reduce emissions that contribute to climate change?: “The planet Earth is a closed system. There is not much Vermont can do to move the needle. We have to view our economy as an ecosystem as well. Our economy is out of balance.”
“No, I did not use AI to write responses.”
Tanya Vyhovsky
Progressive / Democratic · Incumbent
Tanya Vyhovsky (Progressive / Democratic) of Essex Town is an incumbent Vermont Senator representing the Chittenden-Central district in the 2025-2026 General Assembly, and works as Social Worker.
Campaign site
What is one part of Vermont’s economy or cost of living that needs greater attention from elected officials?: “While there's a wide body of research that shows that investments in social safety nets reduce the much more costly emergency interventions, this has largely been abandoned in the Statehouse as we try to fund stop gap measures as band aids to chronically underfunded prevention and low level supports. We can't keep letting our social infrastructure crumble.”
“While I support the Cooperative Educational Service Areas (CESA) as a tool to increase access to supports and services while sharing costs, I have significant concerns about the rest of the plan that moved forward. We built checks and balances in to prevent some of the potentially destabilizing proposals from going forward if they prove harmful, but we still have a lot of work to do.”
“I have deep concerns with the foundation formula as it is proposed and voiced them throughout the last session. I am very worried that if this move is made without adequate guardrails to ensure proper school funding, that it will systematically underfund our schools. Until more questions are answered I am not comfortable with this model of school funding.”