April 2, 2026
By John Flowers

ORWELL — Orwell selectboard Chair Andrea Treadway willseek one of the two state Senate seats representing AddisonCounty, Huntington, Rochester and Buel’s Gore, and her entryinto the race will trigger a Republican primary on Aug. 11. Treadway joins incumbent Sen. Steve Heffernan of Bristoland Leicester’s Leslie Bienvenue as the three Republicans to have thus far entered the state Senate race. The Democratic field as of this writing includes incumbent Sen. Ruth Hardy of Middlebury and Salisbury’s
Hannah Sessions.

This will be Treadway’s second state Senate bid. Motivated by efforts to improve the fortuneof dairy and fruit farmers, she competed in 2010 (as Andrea Ochs) in a five-way race.

“(Former U.S.) Sen. Jim Jeffords, R-Vt., inspired me to run for (the state Legislature),” sherecalled. “I felt there was so much going on, and I was so active in the agricultural community and saw all the stuff that needed to be fixed. In my naiveté, I thought I was going to go to Montpelier and change the world.”

Treadway finished out of the running in that 2010 race, though she was heartened by having captured 15% of the vote. And in retrospect, she said she’s glad she didn’t win a seat back then; her two daughter’s were 8 and 10 years old at the time. Spending four- to five months in Montpelier each year year would’ve required her to miss a lot of quality family time and volunteer opportunities.

Sixteen years later, Treadway believes she’s in a much better place in her life to serve. Her daughters are now grown and forging their own careers. She’s “inherited” two additional daughters through her husband Jeff. She’s well-established as a bookkeeper. She’s reestablished herself in civic affairs, as leader of the Orwell select board, vice chair of the Addison County Regional Planning Commission’s Transportation Advisory Committee, and as a member of the Champlain Valley Office of Economic Opportunity (CVOEO) board.

“I’ve always had a passion for government and public service,” Treadway said. “I believe yous hould always serve your community and do it to the best of your ability without any preconceived notions.”

She’s still concerned about the plight of the state’s farmers, but she enters the 2026 Senate campaign with a broader set of issues.

“I want to work across the aisle to create meaningful legislation to make Vermont affordable for all Vermonter,” she said. “The best way to do this is to listen to constituents and then craft responsible legislation in concert with the main contributors in that area.”

Treadway specifically cited healthcare, education, property taxes, housing and agriculture as sectors of the economy requiring financial relief.

“Each one of these areas has unique challenges while crafting legislation and will require working together to create a positive outcome,” she said.

How does she define working together?

For education reform, for example, she’d like to see representatives of the Agency of Education, Vermont Principals Association, teachers, parents, and students in the same roomtalking things out.

HEALTH CARE

Treadway has read the Vermont Healthcare 911 (VHC911) report and agrees with its recommendations and findings. VHC911 is a coalition that includes medical professionals,business leaders, school officials and rank-and-filed Vermonters concerned about the rising costs of healthcare and its impacts on the well being, quality of life and success of residents and the economic vitality of the state.

Like the VHC911 coalition, Treadway believes the Legislature has been taking steps to help the state’s healthcare industry cut costs. She hopes these advances — which include recent passage of Acts 68, 55 and 49 — translate into lower health insurance premiums for Vermonters, businesses and school systems.

“We need to work with hospitals, providers and insurance companies, as well as legislators care,” Treadway said.

“In order to make education more affordable, we have to tackle health care,” she added,noting one of the most volatile line items for school districts.

What about universal primary care, a health care system that earned citizens’ backing at several Addison County town meetings this year?

“In theory, I’m a supporter of universal primary care. I think it’s a great idea,” Treadway said.“But in reality, I think it’s going to be really hard — in a state our size — to be fiscally responsible and find a way to pay for it. Can we merge universal primary care with private pay?”

EDUCATION REFORM
While Treadway is on board with reducing education costs, she’s not sure Vermont’s Act 73 is the way to do it. The new law sets out a process for paring the state’s school districts from the current 119 to far fewer, devising a “weighted” student funding formula, and a statewide education tax rate. It also calls for statewide graduation requirements and a statewide calendar, class-size minimums, state aid for school construction, and revised criteria for independent schools to receive public dollars.

“I think (Act 73) is ambitious, there are a lot of different ways to make (spending) reductions,but I’m not sure everything in Act 73 is the way to do it. I really think we need to look at school choice,

career centers and pathways after graduation that don’t necessarily include traditional college,” Treadway said. “Traditional college worked for my children, but it doesn’t work for everyone.”

Treadway believes local voters — as opposed to lawmakers and or the Agency of Education— should decide on possible school closures or consolidations.

“It’s not easy (to close a school),” Treadway said. “The school is the heart of a town.”

But she sees value in reducing the number of school districts as a means of shedding administrative costs.

“We need to start there and let the (current) school districts do their jobs to come up with the best way to provide education,” Treadway said.
She acknowledged that with declining enrollment and rising education costs, changes will beneeded that aren’t “going to make everyone happy.”

HELP WHEN NEEDED

Treadway said she believes in helping Vermonters during rough stretches. She harkened back to an earlier time in her life when she was struggling to put food on the table and wondering if she could make her mortgage payment, in spite of working two jobs. CVOEO connected her to fuel assistance and 3SquaresVt benefits for around three months, she recalled.

“It was just enough to get me through the hardest time in my life,” she said, adding that when CVOEO subsequently asked her if she’d like to serve on its board, “I ran to it.”

Treadway lamented limited state reserves for safety-net programs amid current federal cuts.

“I will fight for programs that help Vermonters,” she said.

Treadway is working on a campaign website that can be found at
treadwayforvt.com

John Flowers is at
johnf@addisonindependent.com