Bernie Sanders, left, and Becca Balint. Photos by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerUpdated at 10:23 p.m. Vermonters handily reelected both of the state’s incumbent members of Congress on Tuesday, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Rep. Becca Balint, D-Vt.The Associated Press called the race for Sanders the moment the polls closed in Vermont at 7 p.m. — and for Balint two hours later.Sanders, 83, served as mayor of Burlington in the 1980s and first won election to the U.S. House in 1990. He joined the Senate in 2007 and was vying for a fourth six-year term in the chamber. Though he is formally an independent, Sanders caucuses with the Democratic Party.U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, speaks during a Democratic Party election night gathering in South Burlington on Tuesday, Nov. 5. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerThe incumbent defeated Republican Senate nominee Gerald Malloy, a U.S. Army veteran and government contractor who criticized Sanders for what he called a record of inaction in Congress. Malloy previously ran for Senate in 2022, a race he lost to U.S. Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt. Other candidates in the Senate race included independent Steve Berry, Epic Party nominee Mark Stewart Greenstein, Libertarian Party nominee Matt Hill and Peace and Justice Party nominee Justin Schoville.Sanders acknowledged his win Tuesday night at the Vermont Democratic Party’s election night party in South Burlington shortly after 9 p.m. He told a crowd of about 100 people that he and his wife, Jane O’Meara Sanders, had thought hard about whether he should seek another term. But ultimately, he said, they decided that “we couldn’t turn our backs on our country, our state, at this terribly pivotal moment in American history.”U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders speaks to members of the press after casting his ballot in Burlington on Tuesday, Nov. 5. Photo by Klara Bauters/VTDigger“Jane and I are deeply grateful and moved by the generosity and support that we’ve received from people all over the state,” Sanders said. “So, Vermont, thank you very, very much — and I pledge to you to work as hard as I can.”With more than three-quarters of municipalities reporting results by 10:15 p.m., Sanders was leading Malloy 62% to 31%. None of the other candidates were on track to pick up more than 3% of the vote. Balint, who is finishing her first term in the U.S. House, previously served in the Vermont Senate, including as its president pro tempore. The Brattleboro resident is also a former teacher and writer. She was leading Republican nominee Mark Coester, a logger and small business owner from Westminster, 59% to 28% as of 10:15 p.m. Other candidates in the House race included Peace and Justice Party nominee Jill “Jessy” Diamondstone and independent Adam Ortiz. The former was on track to pick up 2% of the vote and the latter 5%. Speaking Tuesday night to about 150 people at downtown Brattleboro’s Stone Church performance venue, Balint said she “could not be more honored to serve Vermont, to show up for all of you, and to bring Vermont ideals, which are freedom and unity — freedom to be ourselves and unity, meaning we show up for other people. What’s what we do in Vermont.”But Balint also acknowledged the elephant in the room: the outcome of the presidential election. “Tonight, I know there’s so much anxiety that people are feeling. They’re feeling this sense of heaviness,” she said. “But what I’m feeling is incredible optimism. I am feeling (an) incredible sense of urgency that we have work to do, regardless of what happens in the presidential election.”U.S. Rep. Becca Balint speaks Tuesday with Brattleboro state House candidates Ian Goodnow (left) and Mollie Burke (right) outside their town’s polls at the American Legion. Photo by Kevin O’Connor/VTDiggerSanders and Balint, who campaigned with each other in the months leading up to the election, had both been widely expected to win their reelection bids. However, the results of races throughout the country for the U.S. Senate and House may challenge their ability to work effectively in Washington D.C., during their next terms.Sanders, whose influence in the Senate has only grown since his two presidential campaigns in 2016 and 2020, took the helm of the Senate Budget Committee after the latter election. In that position he worked with President Joe Biden to craft the American Rescue Plan Act, which was designed to bolster the economy in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic but which was also blamed by Republicans for contributing to inflation. In 2023, Sanders became chair of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, a position he has used to chip away at his lifelong goal of reforming the country’s health-care system. Leading up to Tuesday’s elections, Democrats’ pathway to retaining a majority in the Senate appeared slim. Without the majority, Sanders would lose his chairmanship of the HELP committee. After voting Tuesday morning in Burlington, Sanders said he did not want to speculate on how his Democratic colleagues would fare that day. READ MORE “I think it’s absolutely true that Democrats … have some seats we have to defend and we’ll see what happens, but I’ve been very proud of the record that I’ve established as chairman of the health, education, labor committee,” Sanders said outside the Robert Miller Community and Recreation Center in the city’s New North End. The senator forged a close relationship with Biden throughout the last four years, hosting events and penning op-eds with the president. While Sanders has shared some skepticism about Vice President Kamala Harris’s policies — particularly in terms of whether she matches Biden’s progressive record — the senator traveled the country campaigning on her behalf and appealing for Americans to reject a Donald Trump presidency.“Today is the most consequential election I think in the modern history of this country,” Sanders said Tuesday morning in Burlington. “If you believe that women have the constitutional right to control their own bodies the choice is clear. If you think climate change is real and not a hoax the choice is clear.”Klara Bauters contributed reporting.Read the story on VTDigger here: Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Becca Balint coast to reelection.