Becca Balint, co-chair of the Congressional Equality Caucus, wins reelection in Vermont

Vermont Democratic Congresswoman Becca Balint successfully defended her seat for the state’s at-large congressional district, defeating Republican opponent Gerald Malloy and earning her third term in the U.S. House of Representatives. The first woman and openly LGBTQ+ Vermonter to represent the state in Congress, Balint ran on a platform of affordable housing, improved mental healthcare, and protecting voting rights.Decision Desk HQ called the race at 7 p.m. Eastern on Tuesday, winning with more than 65 percent of the vote.Related: Know Your Rep: Becca Balint talks being out in CongressBalint has served in the House since 2023 and has become a powerful Democratic voice on the House Judiciary Committee during the second Donald Trump administration. In a May interview with The Advocate, Balint said that her reelection campaign was driven by a desire to challenge Trump’s agenda of mass deportations and sowing anti-transgender animus.“Some people in our community thought that, perhaps because he was not in his first term so completely in bed with white Christian nationalists that somehow this second time around would just be focused on economic issues,” she said. “But I knew that wasn’t going to be the case at all.”Balint has been an outspoken critic of the Trump administration, introducing a resolution in April attempting to curtail the Iran War, among other notable actions. In February, she directly challenged now-former Attorney General Pam Bondi during a Judiciary Committee hearing about the administration’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files. During a heated exchange, Bondi accused the Vermont congresswoman, who is Jewish and whose grandfather died in the Holocaust, of perpetuating an “anti-Semitic culture,” causing Bondi to walk out.Related: Third Trump shutdown ‘irrefutable proof’ Republicans can’t govern, Congressional Equality Caucus saysAs the co-chair of the Congressional Equality Caucus, Balint battled last year to end the third