Vermont is actually known as a particularly liberal and progressive US state. Nevertheless, it took 230 years before the small state was represented by a woman in Washington.
After more than 230 years, the last US state is sending a woman to the US Congress. According to several US media outlets, voters in Vermont voted to nominate Democrat Becca Balint to the House of Representatives in Tuesday’s US midterm election. Actually, the small Vermont in the north-east of the USA is known as liberal – nevertheless it was the last state without a woman in the House of Representatives or in the Senate.
Winner Balint is not only the first woman to represent Vermont in Washington, but also the first openly gay legislator from the state. The former teacher started with a progressive policy. The 54-year-old campaigned for universal health care and paid family leave. Her campaign was supported by well-known left-wing Senator Bernie Sanders.
However, one question remains: Why did it take 230 years for all US states to send a woman to Congress in Washington? In the case of Vermont, there are several reasons for this. The small state has only three seats in Congress: two in the Senate and one in the House of Representatives. There is also another factor: Vermont’s first governor, Madeleine Kunin, told the Washington Post that Vermont residents are very loyal to their incumbent.
Examples of this are the two Senate seats: Democrat Patrick J. Leahy has held his post since 1974 and will probably be replaced by Democrat Peter Welch, who according to US media won his race against Republican Gerald Malloy that night. The other seat has been held by Bernie Sanders since 2007, his predecessor having been in office for 18 years.
The small federal state is even comparatively progressive at the state level. According to the Center for American Women and Politics, almost 42 percent of the seats at the state level are held by women, which puts the state in tenth place in the US comparison. But according to the Washington Post, unlike their male counterparts, women who ran for federal elections and lost often withdrew from politics.
Incidentally, Balint’s challenger, Liam Madden, was aware of his opponent’s historic campaign. The Republican-backed ex-navy soldier signaled that in an email, at least according to the Washington Post. There he wrote that it was more important to him “to elect someone who offers a way out of pervasive political dysfunction and corruption than to glorify another partisan under the illusion that sending similar people to Washington will make a difference.” . That didn’t help his campaign. In the end, Balint won. “Today we reaffirmed that Vermont and this nation are still places where anything is possible,” she wrote on Twitter after her success.
