Praneet Menon

Praneet Menon earned a high school diploma from the Saint Peter's Prep, a bachelor's degree from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 2007, and a graduate degree from the University of Vermont in 2013. Menon's career experience includes working as an aerospace engineer.[1]

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

Praneet Menon is a Republican candidate for Vermont State Representative in the Orleans-Lamoille district. Born in Mumbai, India, he immigrated to the United States at age 16 and earned degrees in aeronautical and mechanical engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the University of Vermont. He subsequently built a career in aerospace and defense, both in private industry and through contracting with the US Armed Forces, where he managed complex engineering programs with multi-million-dollar federal budgets and strict accountability requirements. He also ran a small software development company, is an author, and is currently pursuing graduate training in counseling.

His civic record reflects a sustained commitment to the community he chose. He has served on the local planning commission, the Coventry School Board, and currently serves as the Chair of both the Coventry School Board and the North Country Supervisory Union Board. In that capacity, he oversaw a school construction project that was completed under budget, with remaining funds applied to reduce district debt.

Praneet is running for the Vermont House because he believes state policy should be based on fiscal discipline, local accountability, and a clear-eyed understanding of what rural Vermont communities can sustain.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

The cost of living in Vermont is placing a lot of pressure on working families, seniors, and young people trying to build a future here. Property taxes, energy costs, healthcare, and housing expenses continue to rise faster than household incomes. Every policy that reaches the House floor should be evaluated against a straightforward standard: does this make Vermont more affordable and sustainable for the people who live here? Praneet will apply that standard consistently to prioritize fiscal discipline, honest budgeting, and durable solutions over one-time measures that push the problem to the next legislative cycle.Vermont's housing shortage and economic stagnation are interconnected problems that require a coordinated response. Workforce housing enables population growth; population growth expands the tax base; a broader tax base reduces the burden on existing residents. Praneet supports removing permitting barriers, incentivizing rehabilitation of existing structures, and aligning housing investment with broadband expansion and workforce development in the Northeast Kingdom. The goal is to build the conditions for working families to remain in Vermont and for communities to remain fiscally viable over the long term.Vermont's education spending grows at 5–7% annually while the revenue base grows at less than 3%. This gap compounds into higher property taxes every year, regardless of governance reforms. As Chair of the North Country Supervisory Union Board, Praneet co-led a regional working group that developed a cooperative services framework for the Northeast Kingdom before the Legislature took up similar proposals. Structural reform requires both responsible governance and a growing revenue base. I will bring direct experience from that work and a commitment to solutions that deliver measurable results for taxpayers.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Praneet's policy focus is organized around three groups: those who will inherit Vermont, those who sustain it today, and those who built it. For young Vermonters, that means affordable housing, workforce development, broadband access, and career pathways that make it possible to build a future here rather than leave. For working families and small businesses, it means reducing the cost burdens imposed by state policies, such as property taxes, energy costs, and regulatory compliance, that fall hardest on rural households. For seniors, it means ensuring that people who spent their lives building these communities can remain in them with access to home-based care, affordable housing, and local healthcare services.