Army Veteran, West Point Grad Seeks to Flip Vermont’s At-Large Congressional District

Gerald Malloy said he entered the 2026 political fray due to concerns over far left-leaning policies. But it was a childhood experience at West Point that led to a lifetime of service.

Malloy, a West Point graduate and retired Army officer who served 22 years on active duty, is trying to unseat Democratic Rep. Becca Balint, who first took office in 2023 in Vermont’s At-Large Congressional District. The district is unique on a national level, as it’s the lone congressional district representing the entire state of Vermont in the United States House of Representatives.

Graduating as a cadet from West Point was preceded years earlier by a hockey tournament he played there when he was a young boy in either fifth or sixth grade. Malloy, who spoke with Military.com about his military career and political campaign, said he instantly fell in love with the place and wanted to attend.

“So, I tried to do well in school,” Malloy told Military.com. “I played a couple of sports—baseball and hockey—and was fortunate enough to get accepted to go to West Point. I did play a couple years of baseball and four years of hockey at West Point. Great experience.”

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While sports helped introduce him to West Point, growing up during the Vietnam War era made him want to join the U.S. Army and to be an officer. He accomplished that goal and then some, ultimately serving 22 years of active duty across multiple regions and continents: Europe, Asia, the Persian Gulf, and the Middle East.

He supported the Third Armored Division, defending to fold the gap. His stint included a couple stops in Korea and “five great years” at Fort Bragg—where he was a charter member of a Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) battalion and did a lot of training support assignments.

“I really enjoyed my entire career,” he said. “It’s a great profession. Very proud of it, and I miss it sometimes now. I retired in 2006, but it was always great to be part of the Army team. That’s really what it’s about, working with great Americans that love our country.”

Values Instilled in Military Service

The values he learned in the military were instilled early in his career at West Point, with Malloy saying that duty, honor and country aided him not just in his Army pursuits but also a post-service civilian life that included working in government, being a businessman, and now running for office.

When you attend West Point, he said, one learns about leadership and “leading from the front” by example. You roll your sleeves up and it carries a life beyond the military.

“Going back as a cadet and working through and being commissioned, you take an oath to support and defend the Constitution and bear true faith and allegiance to the same,” Malloy said. “That oath has no duration, so I believe in that oath.

“One of the reasons I’m actually running again now is because I see some politicians, frankly, I don’t think they believe in that oath, believe in the Constitution fully, and certainly not bearing true faith and allegiance to it.”

Malloy’s Previous Political Campaigns

Malloy became intrigued by running for a political seat in 2021, when Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy announced that he would not seek reelection after first claiming the position in 1974.

That set off what Malloy described as a chain of events statewide.

“I looked at that, and I looked at what had been going on in Vermont for a long time, and I decided to run,” Malloy said. “Look, kind of step back and look at my whole career. It’s about 40 years of government and delivering results. I have an MBA. I’ve worked in industry, growing business for several different companies, large and small.”

Peter Welch, a congressman at the time, ultimately ran for and claimed the Leahy seat by attaining approximately 69% of the vote in 2022, to Malloy’s 28%.

In 2024, Malloy ran against independent Sen. Bernie Sanders and claimed roughly 32% of the vote in the general election. Sanders claimed about 63%.

“Again, I looked at Bernie Sanders’ career, 40-plus years now,” Malloy said. “He is a socialist, and he has not delivered results for Vermont. So, I decided to run against him. Won all three debates. Swung every county red, all 14 counties, and at the top of the ticket, I helped the Vermont GOP overcome the supermajority here in the state senate…they had imposed a lot of bad policies and tax increases, burdens on Vermonters that have created where we are now in Vermont, which is in an affordability crisis and people leaving.

“I call it an exodus. Businesses and people leaving because of the high cost there with new taxes, tax increases.”

In the Aug. 11 primary earlier this month, Malloy handily defeated Republican candidate Mark Coester, by a margin of

Malloy explained that there was a time when Vermont sent nothing but Republicans to Washington. But that’s changed over time, and he said it’s been 25 years since Vermont has had moderate, balanced representation for all Vermonters.

“Now, and I’m facing a woman who’s been in Congress for 3 1/2 years now, just has not delivered,” he said. “She might not admit it, but she is part of this socialist wave that’s kind of creeping across the country right now. … Frankly, the progressive left hijacked the Democratic Party, and that has devolved. It’s showing its true colors now.

“It’s actually socialist, that’s the policies they’re implementing here in Vermont. They’re not working.”

What Malloy Would Do Differently Than His Opponent

Malloy said that if successful this November, he wants to work directly with the state’s Republican governor, Phil Scott, who he claims “hasn’t been getting a lot of support from his congressional delegation” since first taking office in 2017.

Vermont has some of the highest health care and education costs nationwide, he added.

But while he has set out to differentiate himself from Balint, Malloy was also blunt about how his state’s constituents feel about what is happening in Washington. He mentioned rejecting President Donald Trump and his policies before again pointing the finger at the state’s top lawmakers.

“I’ll be very, very straightforward: there’s a lot of folks here that don’t like the current president,” Malloy said. “He didn’t win the primary here, but what’s not working for Vermont is the constant bashing and angry rhetoric. That’s the only thing Vermonters are getting from their congressional delegation: Becca Balint, Peter Welch, Bernie Sanders, and socialism-type things they’re pushing. That far-left approach is not working.”

“For me, it’s not about the Oval Office. It’s not about the White House. It’s about producing results for Vermont and the U.S. under the Constitution, and there are some things that I frankly know I can impact,” he added.

Regarding the Iran War, for example, Malloy said he supported the initial military actions to take down Iran’s nuclear capabilities as part of decades of their anti-American sentiment.

“I don’t think the administration took into consideration the strategic level of operations related to the Strait of Hormuz, but I do think it will,” he said. “I think right now we’re kind of starving their economy, and that will work. I think gas prices will come down over time.”

Other things he wants to pass include immigration reform, which he said has been a can “kicked down the road” by both major parties.

He’s now met over 100,000 statewide residents throughout his multiple campaigns. After living in different cities and countries all over the world, he said there’s no place he’d rather be than Vermont.

“[I’m] looking forward to debating Congresswoman Balint, and I’m going to point out how she has let Vermont down,” he said. “She’s not delivering results. Vermont’s in a bad, bad state right now. But it can get better.”