By Guy Page
Democrat candidate for governor Amanda Janoo told an October 22 televised debate audience that her August, 2026 comments on an anti-F-35 Substack page to “get them out of the skies” were taken “out of context.” she insisted she only wants to reduce actual training flight time in favor of more pilot time on simulators.
Janoo was speaking on NBC5’s debate between her and incumbent Phil Scott. She was asked about statements attributed to her on the Cancel the F-35 Substack Substack page.
“This is one of those unfortunate parts about politics where we can take comments out of context,” Janoo said. Here’s the full comment:
“The F-35s are loud as hell, they disrupt our communities, and are currently being used in military operations around the world that I fundamentally oppose. The people who live underneath these nuclear-capable planes voted against having them here, and they came anyway. So yes, If there’s anything I can legally do as Governor to get them out of our skies, I’m down.”
The full context of the comment appears below.
During the October 22 debate, Janoo clarified that while she cannot unilaterally remove the mission, she advocates for increasing training time on flight simulators (from the current 50% to roughly 80%) to reduce noise pollution, disruption to surrounding communities, and wear and tear (49:52-50:47, 52:36-53:38 on the News5 YouTube video). She emphasized her commitment to supporting National Guard members and their families, noting the personal impacts of long deployments.
Scott stated that he worked to bring the F-35 program to Vermont with support from Vermont’s federal delegation. He argued that the governor, as commander-in-chief, has a responsibility for oversight and that the mission was a matter of accepting federal defense infrastructure (51:50-52:27).
Was Janoo’s statement taken out of context? Or was it a candidate’s candid expression to an appreciative audience?
You decide. The following is excerpted verbatim from an August 25, 2026 post headlined ‘The Next Governor Has the Power and the Duty to Stop the F-35 Training in Vermont’ on James Marc Leas’ Cancel the F-35 Substack page:
“We have a major update. This morning, on August 26, 2026, my inbox delivered the clearest answer yet to the question: Will the next Governor actually do something about the F-35s? In response to a pre-publication draft of the article you are about to read, Amanda Janoo, the Democratic candidate for Vermont Governor, did not mince words. Through a campaign staffer, she sent this blunt, unequivocal message:
“The F-35s are loud as hell, they disrupt our communities, and are currently being used in military operations around the world that I fundamentally oppose. The people who live underneath these nuclear-capable planes voted against having them here, and they came anyway. So yes, If there’s anything I can legally do as Governor to get them out of our skies, I’m down.”
Leas continues with a message for his readers:
“What may have seemed impossible suddenly is looking achievable. Please feel free to leave your comment to this exciting news by clicking the link below, and share with Front Porch Forum and social media. Equally important, send your comment to Amanda Janoo via staffer, Jeffrey Peterson <jeffrey@janooforvt.com>. The town meeting votes in Burlington and Winooski demonstrated that this will become a powerful winning issue once her position and her commitment to act to halt F-35 training in Vermont skies becomes widely known.
“On January 7, 2027, Vermont’s next governor can end a grave injustice. The next governor possesses the constitutional authority to order an immediate halt to the F-35 training flights operating from Burlington International Airport (BTV). This is a legal, moral, and public health imperative, grounded in facts the U.S. Air Force itself provided.”