What the Record Shows: Ruth Hardy

Senator Ruth Hardy has represented the Addison District since 2019. She previously served as Executive Director of Emerge Vermont, an organization that recruits and trains Democratic women to run for public office. (Source: legislature.vermont.gov, Senator Ruth Hardy biography, 2026)

Hardy is running alongside Hannah Sessions as a two-candidate Democratic team for ADD-1. The political pipeline connecting them is documented in By Design: Vermont's Democratic Pipeline.

Vermont Investigative transmitted a written questionnaire to Senator Hardy on June 1, 2026 — twelve master questions asked of all five declared candidates for Vermont Senate Addison District (ADD-1), plus two candidate-specific addendum questions drawn from her documented legislative record and public statements. The questionnaire was transmitted under identical conditions to all five declared candidates.

No written response to the questionnaire was received.

On July 14, 2026, Vermont Investigative transmitted a right-of-reply inquiry to Senator Hardy and to Jessica Oski regarding Hardy’s campaign finance record — specifically, contributions received from the Necrason Group and its Senior Manager, Jessica Oski, whose firm is registered as a lobbyist for entities with active interests before Hardy’s committee. Oski did not respond. Hardy responded on July 15, 2026:

Of five declared candidates for ADD-1, one responded to the questionnaire: Andrea Treadway. Vermont Investigative will note that fact in every candidate profile in this series.

In the absence of written questionnaire responses, Vermont Investigative reviewed Hardy’s legislative record: Senate committee hearing transcripts and archived video, roll call votes, bill status records at legislature.vermont.gov, campaign finance filings, and the Vermont Lobbying Information System. What follows is what those documents show, organized by question. Where the public record addresses a question, it is cited. Where it does not, that absence is noted.

Who Is Paying Her

Vermont Investigative reviewed Hardy’s 2026 campaign finance disclosure filed with the Vermont Secretary of State (Filing Entity ID 151012, 2026 Jul 1 Disclosures, reporting period 03/13/2026–06/28/2026).

2026 cycle (General Election, as of last filed report):

• Beginning balance (including surplus from prior campaign): $8,332.96

• Total monetary contributions: $21,957.00

• Total expenditures: $7,979.92

• Ending balance: $15,174.82

• In-kind contributions: $555.00

• Self-funding (career to date): $700.00

• Mass media activity: $0.00

Hardy enters the August primary well-capitalized, with $15,174 cash on hand and no mass media spend to date.

Contributors of note from the itemized record:

The Necrason Group — $500.00 (06/25/2026)

The Necrason Group is a Vermont lobbying and government affairs firm based at 33 Court Street, Montpelier. According to the Vermont Lobbying Information System (registrant export, 2025–2026 biennium), the Necrason Group is registered as a lobbying firm for the following active clients, among others: Vermont Natural Resources Council (VNRC), Vermont Housing and Conservation Coalition, The Nature Conservancy, Forest Partnership, Vermont Association of Planning and Development Agencies (VAPDA), Renewable Energy Vermont, Vermont Energy Investment Corp. (VEIC), VELCO, and H.Q. Energy Services U.S. Inc. (Hydro-Quebec).

Hardy serves on the Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Energy and the Senate Finance Committee. Natural Resources and Energy has jurisdiction over legislation directly relevant to several of these Necrason clients.

Jessica Oski, Senior Manager and registered lobbyist at the Necrason Group, contributed an additional $250.00 (06/24/2026), placing total Necrason-connected giving at $750.00 for this reporting period.

Hardy did not address the specific overlap between the Necrason Group’s lobbying clients and her committee jurisdiction, or the question of recusal or disclosure practice.

No claim is made about the intent behind these contributions or Hardy’s legislative decisions. The documented relationship between the Necrason Group’s lobbying clients and Hardy’s committee jurisdiction is factual. What voters do with that information is their call.

2025 Voting Record: Selected Issues

The following documents Senator Hardy’s roll call votes from the 2025 legislative session across key policy areas. All votes are drawn from the Vermont Senate Roll Call Book 2025, published by the Office of the Secretary of the Vermont State Senate and available at legislature.vermont.gov. Roll call votes represent a subset of legislative activity — not all votes are recorded by roll call.Housing Demand and Demographic Data.

Q1 asked candidates to cite the primary source for Vermont’s documented housing demand and describe the demographic assumptions behind the state’s 40,000-unit projection.

Hardy did not respond to the questionnaire. Vermont Investigative reviewed the public record for Hardy’s documented positions on housing demand methodology.

No committee hearing statement, floor speech, or public communication from Hardy specifically addressing the demographic assumptions behind Vermont’s 40,000-unit housing projection was located in the record as of publication.

Education Fund Revenue Risk

Q2 asked candidates to describe the education fund revenue risk posed by Vermont’s projected demographic decline and identify which funding mechanism is most vulnerable.

Hardy did not respond. No documented public statement specifically addressing the education fund’s demographic revenue exposure was located in the record.

Noncitizen Voting in School Budget Elections

Q3 asked candidates to state their position on whether noncitizens should be permitted to vote in school budget elections.

Hardy did not respond. No documented floor vote or public statement specifically on noncitizen voting in school budget elections was located in the record as of publication.

Act 59, Carbon Markets, and Conservation Finance

Q4 asked candidates to describe Act 59’s mechanism for generating carbon credits from conserved land, identify who captures the value, and state whether current law adequately protects landowner interests.

Hardy did not respond.

Vermont Investigative reviewed Hardy’s Senate Natural Resources and Energy Committee record for documented engagement with Act 59 implementation. Hardy is a member of the committee with direct oversight of Act 59 implementation through ANR rulemaking and VHCB administration.

No documented statement specifically addressing the carbon credit generation mechanism or landowner value capture under Act 59 was located in publicly archived committee records as of publication.

Natural Capital Valuation

Q5 asked candidates to describe how they would value Vermont’s natural capital — forests, wetlands, agricultural soils, groundwater — in land use and fiscal policy, and whether that valuation should be monetized.

Hardy did not respond. No documented public statement specifically addressing natural capital valuation methodology was located in the record.

Land Ownership Transparency

Q6 asked candidates whether Vermont should require public disclosure of beneficial ownership for entities holding land above a specified threshold, and what that threshold should be.

Hardy did not respond. No documented public statement specifically on beneficial ownership disclosure for land-holding entities was located in the record.

Vermont Sovereignty Over Land Use Policy

Q7 asked candidates to describe the appropriate relationship between federal conservation priorities and Vermont’s authority over its own land use decisions.

Hardy did not respond. No documented public statement specifically framing Vermont’s land use sovereignty in relation to federal conservation programs was located in the record.

Rural Policy Framework

Q8 asked candidates to describe their framework for rural Vermont — specifically, how they balance the interests of working landowners, conservation goals, and new residential development.

Hardy did not respond.

Vermont Investigative reviewed the archived video record of the Senate Natural Resources and Energy Committee hearing on March 12, 2026 (Vermont Legislature YouTube channel, timestamp 2:49:42–2:50:21).

In that hearing, Hardy framed landowner compliance with Tier 1B road rules as earning a reward: “if you get your ducks in a row you get a carrot,” followed by laughter. The full exchange is available in the archived video.

SNRE-2026-03-12 9:00A

In that hearing, Hardy framed landowner compliance with Tier 1B road rules as earning a reward: “if you get your ducks in a row you get a carrot,” followed by laughter. The full exchange is available in the archived video.

Data Centers, Energy, and Vermont Infrastructure

Q9 asked candidates to describe their position on large-scale data center development in Vermont, including the energy demand implications and what regulatory standards should govern siting.

Hardy did not respond. No documented public statement specifically on data center siting standards or energy demand policy was located in the record as of publication.

Education Spending and Outcomes

Q10 asked candidates to describe the relationship they see between Vermont’s per-pupil education spending and measurable student outcomes, and what specific changes they would support.

Hardy did not respond. No documented public statement specifically addressing per-pupil spending relative to outcome data was located in the record.

Housing Market Pricing and Workforce

Q11 asked candidates to describe the mechanism they believe drives Vermont’s housing price-to-income mismatch and identify the one regulatory change most likely to move the ratio.

Hardy did not respond. No documented public statement specifically naming a single regulatory lever for the price-to-income mismatch was located in the record.

Candidate-Specific Addendum

RH-A1: Senator Hardy, your committee has jurisdiction over ANR rulemaking, VHCB administration, and Act 59 implementation. Lobbyists registered on behalf of organizations with direct financial interests in those areas have contributed to your campaign in this cycle. What is your practice for recusal or disclosure when your committee takes up legislation that directly affects a contributor’s clients?

Hardy’s response is reprinted in the introduction above. She did not address the recusal or disclosure question specifically.

What the Record Does Not Yet Contain

The following positions from Hardy are not in the public record in sufficient specificity to report as documented: her framework for the carbon credit mechanism under Act 59, her position on beneficial ownership disclosure, her description of the demographic assumptions behind Vermont’s housing demand projections, and her specific regulatory recommendation for Vermont’s housing price-to-income mismatch.

Vermont Investigative will update this profile if Hardy provides written responses after publication.

The Voter’s Job

Five candidates are on the ballot. One provided written answers. The public record for the four who did not is what it is. Voters in Addison District will decide in August what the absence of a written response means.

Sources

• Vermont Secretary of State, Campaign Finance Disclosure, Filing Entity ID 151012, 2026 Jul 1 Disclosures, reporting period 03/13/2026–06/28/2026

• Vermont Lobbying Information System, registrant export, 2025–2026 biennium

• Vermont Legislature, Senator Ruth Hardy official biography, legislature.vermont.gov/people/single/2026/30978

• Vermont Legislature, Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Energy, committee page, legislature.vermont.gov/committee/detail/2026/30

• Vermont Legislature, Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Energy, archived hearing video, March 12, 2026, , timestamp 2:49:42–2:50:21

• Ruth Hardy, written right-of-reply response to Vermont Investigative, July 15, 2026 (on record)

• Jessica Oski, no response to Vermont Investigative right-of-reply inquiry (on record)

• Vermont Investigative, By Design: Vermont’s Democratic Pipeline, alexsys.substack.com/p/by-design-vermonts-democratic-pipeline

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