Last November, a little known state senator from Brattleboro, VT named Becca Balint came out of nowhere to win a seat in Congress. 

Balint convincingly won a crowded primary race, persuading a lot of voters to choose her over a sitting Lt. Governor.

Political watchers in Vermont knew Balint was a talented, sincere, hard-working state senator, but to beat Lt. Governor Molly Gray, who had the strong backing of the political organization run by Senator Patrick Leahy, Balint would have to pull a huge upset. 

And she did. She won the endorsement of Sen. Bernie Sanders; persuaded another opponent to withdraw from the race and endorse her; and most of all, brought a sunny, optimistic personality to the public that convinced Vermont voters she could be something different in politics. 

She spoke to everyone, regardless of party, regardless of political views. She said she would respect everyone and she has. I’ll admit, there is something about Balint that just outshines everyone else. When she talks to you, she is really talking to you. That rarely happens with politicians. 

That personality and the record she built in the Vermont Statehouse swept her to an exciting victory and she vowed to take her positive attitude to Congress, especially to work on mental health and housing issues. 

And then she met the Republican party. 

I interviewed Balint recently on my Vermont Viewpoint radio on WDEV. I expected the usual Balint, overtly friendly, inquisitive, and eager to share what she has learned in her first 100 days in office. She brought all that, but there was something else, a certain darkness to her voice that I had not heard before. 

The Republicans, she said, take every opportunity to attack LGBTQ people. Their death wish around the debt ceiling threatens the economy. 

“The most disappointing part is watching up close the number of people in the Republican party who know they have taken a dangerous path,’’ she said. “When it comes time to vote on the floor, they all fall in line. As an American, that terrifies me.’’

There’s more. Balint serves on the House Oversight Committee, which is chaired by Republican Congressman James Comer. Comer came to the chair promising to investigate the Biden family and promised lurid details about Biden's corruption.

So far nothing.

“It’s dark,” she said. “It’s dark.’’

Then there is the conspiracy theory doyenne of the Republican party and Balint's fellow committee member, Majorie Taylor Greene. It is Greene, you will remember, who was stripped of all committee assignments in the previous Congress for racist and anti-Semitic remarks. She is the darling of the far right for her conspiracy theories about space lasers and for denying the legitimacy of President Biden’s election. She just introduced articles of impeachment against not just the president but against the Attorney General and the FBI Director. 

Balint, who works hard to speak with everyone no matter their politics, has not yet spoken to Taylor-Greene. She says Taylor-Greene won’t look her in the eye in committee.  

And when I asked her how to explain the behavior of Republicans who actually don’t support Trump and don’t subscribe to the craziness?

“They can’t say it in public,’’ Balint says. 

 The full interview with Balint is in my Conflict of Interest of podcast right here, where the new congresswoman gives us a real view into what’s happening in Congress today…and why.