MONTPELIER, Vt. (WCAX) – Election day is just over a month away and the race for one of Vermont’s U.S. Senate seats is among the statewide contests on the November ballot. Incumbent Senator Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., is facing Republican Gerald Malloy, and both have very different views on the issues facing Vermonters and how best to solve them.
Senator Bernie Sanders is seeking a fourth, six-year term in office.
He points to his track record in Congress on health care, housing, and a pro-worker agenda. “I can play a very positive role in addressing some of these issues,” Sanders said.
Sanders’ ascent to international politics and two unsuccessful runs for president have put Vermont on the map. The 83-year-old Sanders says his top priority is making health care and prescription drugs more affordable, and that his leadership of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions allows him to hold pharmaceutical executives’ feet to the fire.
“If you make sure that we’re funding doctors and nurses and covering the cost of prescription drugs, instead of bureaucrats and huge profits for the insurance companies and drug companies,” Sanders said.
Dating back to his political roots in the ‘80s as Burlington’s mayor, Sanders has advocated for a democratic socialist agenda funded by higher taxes on the nation’s top earners. “The percentage of taxes they’re paying on their income should not be lower than for a working-class person — that’s absurd,” he said.
Sanders has been hitting the campaign trail this fall stumping for Vice President Kamala Harris. On foreign policy, he’s in favor of more aid to Ukraine and has called for a ceasefire in Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza. He has also been outspoken that the U.S. should stop sending weapons to Israel.
Republican Gerald Malloy says he’s running for Senate to push back on policies that Sanders has worked on.
“A lot of false promises. I’m going to deliver results for all Vermonters,” Malloy said.
A graduate of West Point, the 62-year-old served for over two decades in the Army. He’s a supporter of former President Trump and ran unsuccessfully in 2022 against Senator Peter Welch.
Malloy says he believes the country is heading in the wrong direction and that he would focus on crime and drugs. He says he would work to bolster the domestic energy supply and cut federal regulations to spur competition in the free market. “Two percent inflation, $2 dollar gas, $2 home heating oil — we didn’t have two new wars. If you go back to 2019, things were a lot better,” he said.
Malloy says he would work to tamp down inflation and the national debt by reining in spending. “Fiscal responsibility and spending to at or very close to a balanced budget is the first step,” he said.
On Ukraine and Israel, Malloy says he supports more restrained military aid to both countries.
Election Day is November 5.