Becca Balint

Two Republican hopefuls, Gerald Malloy and Mark Coester, are competing for the party's nomination for Vermont's U.S. House seat.

The winner of the Republican primary will likely face incumbent Democrat Becca Balint in the November general election.

Polls from late July showed both Republican candidates trailing significantly behind Balint among likely voters.

Vermont has not elected a Republican to Congress in nearly three decades.

Vermonters haven't sent a Republican to Congress in 25 years. But two GOP hopefuls want to buck that trend.

Gerald Malloy, a Weathersfield defense contractor, and Mark Coester, a Westminster logger, will vie for the Republican nomination for U.S. representative Aug. 11.

Whoever wins that primary will almost certainly face U.S. Rep. Becca Balint — the Democrat who has held Vermont's lone House seat since 2022 — and any third-party candidates in the general election this November.

Neither man is new to campaigning, or to the other. Malloy ran against Democratic Sen. Peter Welch in 2022, then against independent Sen. Bernie Sanders in 2024, losing handily each time. Coester was on that 2022 ballot as an independent, then challenged Balint in 2024, seeing his vote share rise from 0.4% to almost 30%.

They've taken sharply different approaches to their campaigns this year. Both talked with the Burlington Free Press about what they want to do in office, how they rate their chances in one of the bluest states in the nation and why, sometimes with personal jabs, they think they're the best pick.

Malloy says he seeks moderation in Congress

Malloy said he's running again to give Vermont "moderate, balanced representation." He feels the Democratic Party has been “hijacked," he said, by progressives whose policies have made Vermont too expensive and pushed people to leave.

His background in business and connections in Washington would help him "produce results" for Vermonters if elected, he said.

He'd also work closely with Republican Gov. Phil Scott and the Legislature, he said, arguing Vermont's current congressional delegation has neglected relationships with state government.

"We need someone to support our Republican governor," he said. "We're not getting that support."

"That will happen with me," he added.

He said he'll also bring a different tone to the office by moving away from "angry rhetoric" about the Trump administration. That's something Vermonters want, he said.

Coester wants to see 'wars come to an end'

Coester said if elected he would tackle what he believes is widespread "fraud" against the federal government from "around the nation."

"I believe that people entitled to benefits should get benefits," he said. "But there are people defrauding the government."

Coester said he wants to see the "wars come to an end," citing the Russia-Ukraine war and conflicts in the Middle East, including in Lebanon and Gaza. Domestically, he said he would work to solve price gouging on items like fuel, lumber and eggs — products with "no valid reason" for drastic markups. Back in May, he told the Free Press he'd like to improve industry in Vermont and help increase the country's "oil refining capacity."

He also correctly pointed out, in that interview, that he received more votes in Vermont’s 2024 general election than any Republican candidate for the seat since 2006.

Could Vermont elect its first Republican to Congress in almost three decades?

As of July 21, Malloy had a “clear lead” over Coester, with 58% of likely Republican primary voters saying they'd back him versus 6% for Coester, according to a University of New Hampshire poll. About 32% said they were undecided.

Support for Coester had decreased since June, when the university found that 19% of likely Republican primary voters said they'd vote for him.

Both candidates trailed Balint considerably in the late July poll, with over 60% of likely voters saying they would go with her over either Republican in November.

Malloy and Coester each captured the same amount of support (25%) in individual matchups against Balint, the poll said, though voters favored Balint slightly more against Coester than against Malloy.

Vermont hasn't deployed a Republican to Congress since voters re-elected U.S. Sen. Jim Jeffords in 2000, who'd end up turning independent and leaving the party a year later anyway.

Malloy believes he can break the streak, saying he's "feeling absolutely fantastic about the entire race."

"Vermont is going to reject socialism," he said. "And that is what has been happening in the state Legislature."

He pointed to Republican gains in the Statehouse in 2024 and legislation passed this session, including laws that rolled back the "worst part" of Act 181 — which critics said over-restricted how people can use their land — and repealed the Clean Heat Standard.

"People are seeing what the GOP is doing for Vermont," he said.

But Coester doesn't think Malloy — or himself, for that matter — stands a chance.

"I believe Becca Balint is going to win because he stepped in," Coester said. "It was a long shot for me, but he's a guaranteed loser."

For one, Coester pointed to Malloy's work with the Department of Defense and Empower AI, an artificial intelligence company in Virginia. "Vermonters don't like war," Coester said.

Plus, Coester argued, Malloy's relatively recent residency in Vermont won't go over well with voters. (He moved here in 2020.)

"He's not a guy Vermont would ever elect," Coester said. "I have no idea who asked him to run. He has no roots in Vermont whatsoever."

The opposite is true for himself, Coester said.

“I’ve been here my whole life since I was 9 years old," he said. "Every bit of work I’ve done has been in Vermont. I adore the people.”

Malloy declined to speak more than a few sentences about his primary challenger both times he was interviewed by the Free Press. “I’m not sure what he’s doing,” he said, adding: “I can’t comment on his campaign. I’m looking past and looking forward to debating Balint in September or August, not waiting until November.”

In June, Malloy refused to take part in a Vermont Public debate with his primary challenger unless Balint came too. (Malloy instead sat down for a solo interview with the outlet.) He told Vermont Public that Coester had a self-control issue, citing a report from Seven Days that said Coester called one of the newspaper's writers a "f---," preceded by a derogatory insulting their mental capacity and suggesting they held a liberal bias.

“Frankly, I don’t want to embarrass the Republican Party with him,” Malloy said, adding, “We’re miles apart in terms of, frankly, character, experience and platform, and I don’t think it would be good for me or the party.”

This election season, content creator Hank Poitras, known online as Planet Hank, posted AI-generated videos of Coester and Balint on social media. One depicted an AI-generated Coester picking up an AI-generated Balint with an excavator shovel and plopping her in a dumpster. Coester didn't make the video, though Seven Days reported that he found it funny and shared it online.

Attorney General Charity Clark's office is investigating whether that video violates a state law governing the "use of synthetic media in elections," according to Seven Days. The law, passed last March, says that if an AI-generated political attack ad is published within 90 days of an election, it must come with a disclaimer about its creation. The law provides exemptions for satire and parody, however, and according to Seven Days, Poitras filed a federal lawsuit against Clark challenging its constitutionality.

"Hank and lawyers are dealing with a mess that had nothing to do with me," Coester said in a text when asked about the videos.

"Not my business what he does," he added.

In his 2022 run, Coester received backlash when, during a Fourth of July parade, his campaign vehicle displayed a flag associated with authoritarian-nationalist and at times fascist ideologies from the Spanish Civil War.

Coester said the flag belonged to and was flown by a "young man of color" involved in Vermont GOP campaigns. Coester said he allowed the college student on his truck but didn't know what the flag was — "nor did I care" — and that "it didn't look offensive" at the time.

"Whatever he was thinking, he has a constitutional right to do that," he said, adding, "God bless that young man. It was the Fourth of July. If that was the flag he wanted, that was the flag he wanted."

People have been reading too much into it and making a "hullabaloo," he said. No one ever mentions the litany of American and Vermont-themed flags also on the truck, he said.

"The whole thing is crazy," Coester said. "All of a sudden, they're saying I'm into White Christian Nationalism. It was so totally bizarre."

Paul Dame, the state GOP chair, encouraged Republicans at the time to vote for other candidates instead of Coester. Dame "stepped in it hard," Coester said.

The party chair condemned Coester again this summer, following the incident with the Seven Days reporter.

Megan Stewart covers Chittenden County for the Burlington Free Press. Contact her at [email protected].