By Guy Page

The leading fundraiser in the August 11 contested Democrat primary for the three seats in the Chittenden Central Vermont Senate district has raised a significant portion of his campaign treasury from Americans of Indian descent living out of state.

Nikil Goyal is a UVM professor, former  and, according to his website, the son of Indian immigrants. He faces incumbents Martine Gulick and Tanya Vyhovsky and fellow challengers Elaine Haney and Through June 30 he had raised $138,574 In total, the Nikil Goyal for Vermont State Senate campaign reported, in its July 1 State of Vermont campaign filing for April – June, 38 of the 79 unique $100+ contributors with Indian or South Asian names. 

Many of the other Goyal contributors are familiar to Vermont Democrats: for example, Jeanne Keller, Melinda Moulton, David Kelley, George Thabault, Ben Cohen and others. What’s new is the emergence of a large class of donors who typically are not involved in Vermont Senate elections: people of Indian descent, virtually all living out of state. 

There is nothing illegal, or even unethical, about out-of-state donations from the candidate’s ethnic group comprising a large percentage of the campaign’s biggest campaign chest. Some of the donors appear to be successful professionals of Indian descent living in New York City and upstate. 

Together, their April-June individual donations total $23,207, just under half of the total $47,528 of $100+ contributions. (A handful were contributed in late March and were credited to the spring quarter). 

Money is not necessarily the deciding factor in the Chittenden Central Democratic primary, which given the left-leaning population will almost certainly determine who fills the district’s seats in the Vermont Senate in January. Just ask Stewart Leadbetter, who outraised all candidates in 2026, only to lose to the two current incumbents and Phil Baruth, who chose not to run again this year.

All of the contributors listed American, and mostly New York, addresses. Their names are:

Bina Sabapathy

Shobha Tewani

Kaushal Kumar

Rita Batheja

Kishore Malik

Meena Sharma

Renu Malik

Kavita Mehta

Rajneesh and Sruti Tyagi

Jitender and Sapna Garg

Dolly Manvar

Urmilesh Arya

Mizanur Rahman

Animesh and Anupam Goenka

Rajni Khanna

Shaji and Suresh Tewani

Satnam Parhar

Shashi Malik

Sanjay Jain

Mukesh Modi

Surin Manaktala

Ashwani Beri

RJ Narang

Mohinder Taneja

Ravi Gupta

Madhavan Rangaswami

Ravi Jain

Gautam Desai

Harsha Reddy

Arvind Rajagopal

Shekar Narasimhan

Reshma Saujani

Amish Shah

Suraj Patel

Ravinder Bhalla

Prince Bhojwani

Dolly Chugh

Shobhana Bhargava

According to his campaign website, Nikhil Goyal is a Burlington-based sociologist, educator, and policymaker who says he is bringing a background in education, juvenile justice, and public policy to his campaign. He was a staffer for a Senate campaign chaired by Sen. Bernie Sanders. He earned his BA at Goddard College and MPhil and PhD at the University of Cambridge and was also a Kathryn Davis Fellow for Peace at Middlebury College. The site notes that The New York Times praised his “command of … federal, state, and local education laws, and social programs,” describing him as an advocate for children, families, and Vermont’s public schools.

Goyal is an adjunct assistant professor of sociology at the University of Vermont and is researching juvenile justice for a forthcoming book under contract with Harvard University Press, according to the campaign. He previously taught sociology at the University of Vermont, Wesleyan University, and New York University.

The campaign also highlights Goyal’s policy advocacy in Vermont. It says he was a leader in the coalition opposing Act 73, the state’s education reform law, and helped organize town halls and rallies across the state as a member of Vermont School Workers United. The website also says Goyal partnered with ACLU Vermont to lead a coalition of civil rights organizations and former officials from the Biden, Clinton, and Carter administrations in support of strengthening Vermont’s Raise the Age juvenile justice law.

Seven Days reports that Goyal says he has no regrets about his strong fundraising, arguing it has helped overcome his biggest challenge in the race: low name recognition. Goyal, a 31-year-old adjunct sociology professor at the University of Vermont, said that despite authoring the acclaimed book Live to See the Day: Coming of Age in American Poverty and serving as an adviser to U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, he entered the campaign without broad public recognition in Vermont and has never held elected office.

According to the story, Goyal used campaign funds to produce a professionally made video advertisement similar to those used in national political campaigns. The ad has been running on YouTube and other social media platforms as part of an effort to introduce himself to voters. Goyal told Seven Days, “I started this race with single-digit name recognition.”

McLaren leads all candidates in July fundraising – Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor Ryan McLaren reported raising $97,846.37 in monetary contributions between June 29 and July 29, the highest fundraising total of any statewide or local candidate in Vermont during the latest reporting period, his campaign claims. Including in-kind donations, his campaign brought in $104,771.05, pushing its total fundraising to nearly $410,000, which the campaign says is a record for a Vermont lieutenant governor primary race.

According to the campaign, McLaren raised more than $24,000 more than the next-highest fundraiser, Aly Richards, and more than doubled the fundraising total of his closest Democratic primary opponent. McLaren credited supporters and volunteers for the campaign’s success, saying voters are looking for leadership focused on housing, health care costs and making Vermont more affordable for working families.

The fundraising report follows what the campaign described as a period of growing momentum, including campaign events across the state and the launch of a statewide television advertisement featuring an endorsement from U.S. Sen. Peter Welch.

The campaign also reported spending nearly $149,000 during the reporting period, including more than $124,000 on television and other mass-media advertising, while retaining about $86,800 in cash on hand. Campaign Manager Molly Moore said the campaign is using its fundraising advantage to expand advertising, voter outreach and organizing efforts heading into the final weeks of the race.