Becca Balint, a member of the Democratic party, won her primary elections and now holds the nomination for the Congressional office of Vermont. She will now face Republican Liam Madded in the upcoming midterm elections.
Becca Balint beat opponents Molly Gray, Louis Meyers and Sianay Chase Clifford. She received more than 61% of the votes to win the primary. Balint will be contesting the polls for Vermont’s sole seat in the US House of Representatives.
Also Read: US primaries: Vermont sets Becca Balint vs. Liam Madded for sole House seat
Who is Becca Balint?
Becca Balint was born in a US Army hospital in Germany. She moved to the United States early in her childhood and resided in upstate New York with her family and two siblings. Her campaign website also suggests that her grandfather was killed in the Holocaust.
Balint, 54, came to Vermont in 1994 and permanently settled there in 1997. By this time, Balint had opened up about her sexuality. She met her future wife Elizabeth in Vermont.
In the early 2000s, Becca Balint took up a teaching job in Windham County and eventually started teaching in four rural public schools. She quit her job as a rock-climbing instructor.
According to her campaign website, Becca Balint is a graduate of Smith College, the School of Education at Harvard and also holds a Master’s degree in History from the University of Massachusetts.
She is married to noted attorney and opera singer, Elizabeth Wohl. Together, they have two children– Abe, 14, and Sarah, 11 and a dog named Wheelie. They live in Brattleboro, Vermont.
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If Becca Balint wins the upcoming general elections, she would become the first woman and the first openly gay person to represent the state in Congress.
In her primary, Balint got support from the progressive wing of the state party, including the state’s independent Senator Bernie Sanders, and national progressive leaders such as Represetative Pramila Jayapal.
