Change Is Possible - Dec. 13, 2021

BALINT: I know what can happen when we turn away from each other. My grandfather was murdered on a death march in the Holocaust. I grew up with the knowledge that people can be led astray when they're scared. I knew I was gay and that was different. and I knew that some people were scared of my kind of different. I think I was a middle school teacher because I did not want any of my students to feel that sense of fear, that they weren't going to have someone showing up for them.

MAN: Miss Balint was someone who saw students as people. She accepted everyone for who they were and let us figure out what we liked and what we didn't like. I was able to become my own person.

WOMAN: She inspired a lot of confidence, not just in me but in my classmates, as well. that's why people like Becca really can just make the world of difference.

BALINT: You show up as a middle school teacher because you believe in possibility, that change and growth can happen. When we first moved into our house here in Brattleboro, the neighbor across the fence had an anti-gay sign. I get out of the car, and I’m pregnant, and at that moment, I felt like how are we gonna make this work? From a wave, to a conversation, to a borrowed lawnmower, things changed and the sign came down. And we felt the relief that comes when we stop turning away from each other and start meeting each other face to face.

I think that we are often encouraged to shut people out. That is not the way forward for us as a community, or a state, or as a nation. I've never backed away from fighting for what's right. I've done it in my neighborhood here, I’ve done it in every job that I've had.

REPORTER 1: History in Montpelier.

REPORTER 2: Becca Balint, the Democrat from Windham County, is the first woman and first openly gay person to ever serve as Vermont senate president pro tem.

BALINT: In Vermont, we delivered the state's largest investment in affordable housing, paid sick leave, workforce development, pathways to good paying jobs, and we protected reproductive liberty for all. This is going to be a tough fight, but I've been in tough fights before, and I know change is possible. It's not just about how we deliver on a promise, it's how we do that work because we've got to deliver on some big-ticket items that families need across this country. Medicare for all, from Newport to Springfield. A Green New Deal that creates jobs from Bennington to Lyndonville. Paid family and medical leave for parents from Burlington to White River Junction. Racial justice and housing justice for all Vermonters.

I'm Becca Balint and I'm running for Congress because there's always a way forward when we turn towards each other. I'm starting by turning to you. I hope you'll join us.