U.S. Representative Becca Balint

Rep. Becca Balint is a mom, teacher, and progressive leader who comes to Washington ready to fight for working families. Becca is the first woman and openly LGBTQIA+ person to represent her home state of Vermont. As the daughter of a working-class mother and immigrant father, Becca is deeply committed to defending American democracy and protecting vulnerable communities.

A deep sense of justice, empathy and service has guided Becca’s career from the beginning – first as an educator who taught middle school in Windham County for fourteen years, then as an activist and State Senator and ultimately as the President Pro Tempore in 2021.

While Majority Leader of the Vermont State Senate, Becca led the passage of the first gun safety laws in the state’s history and worked to enshrine abortion rights in the state’s constitution. Becca also worked tirelessly in the state senate to secure the largest housing investment in Vermont in decades to rebuild housing stock and expand middle income housing.

This Congress, Becca serves as Congressional Progressive Caucus Vice Chair for New Members and as a Co-Chair of the Congressional Equality Caucus. She is a member of the House Judiciary Committee, and the Budget Committee. 

She received her BA from Smith College in Northampton, MA, graduating magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa. Becca earned her masters in education from Harvard University in 1995 and her MA in history from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in 2001.

She is married to noted attorney and opera singer, Elizabeth Wohl. Together, they have two teenagers and an adorable dog named Wheelie. They live in Brattleboro, Vermont.ic growth, pro-innovation, and fiscally responsible policies.

A lifelong Californian and son of Indian immigrants, Congressman Bera grew up believing America was a land of opportunity, where if you worked hard and played by the rules, you could reach your full potential. He attended California’s public schools from grammar school through medical school, earning both his B.S. and M.D. from the University of California, Irvine. With help from his family, scholarships, and working part-time, he put himself through medical school while taking advantage of federally-funded student loans, and graduating with less than $10,000 in debt. He credits much of his success to his country’s investment in him, and he’s working to ensure that we continue to invest in hard working Americans to keep the American Dream alive for the next generation.

During Congressman Bera’s twenty-year medical career, he worked to improve the availability, quality, and affordability of healthcare. After graduating from medical school in 1991, he did his residency in internal medicine at California Pacific Medical Center, eventually becoming chief resident. He went on to practice medicine in the Sacramento area, serving in various leadership roles for MedClinic Medical Group. Chief among his contributions was improving the clinical efficiency of the practice. He then served as medical director of care management for Mercy Healthcare, where he developed and implemented a comprehensive care management strategy for the seven-hospital system.
Congressman Bera went on to put his medical experience to work for his community, serving Sacramento County as Chief Medical Officer. In that role, he fought to reduce the cost of health care, create jobs, and deliver care to tens of thousands of Sacramento residents. He then moved into education, working as clinical professor of medicine and associate dean for admissions and outreach at University of California, Davis, where he taught the next generation of doctors. He also helped the University’s student-run clinics find innovative ways to engage with the community and deliver care to those who needed it most.

In Congress, Bera uses the skills he learned as a doctor to listen to the people of Sacramento County and put people ahead of politics to move our country forward. His priority is to work alongside people in both parties to address our nation’s most pressing challenges and make government work. Bera believes Congress should be a place for service, not for politicians who only look out to protect their own careers, pay, and perks.

Representative Bera has also made it a priority for his office to make government work for Sacramento County. His office has now helped return more than $19 million to local taxpayers – everything from backlogged veterans’ benefits to Social Security savings. His office also has helped more than 31,000 Sacramento County residents since 2013.

Congressman Bera is the longest-serving Indian American serving in Congress. He has lived in Sacramento County for over 20 years with his wife Janine, who is also a medical doctor. They are proud parents to their daughter, Sydra.ge University Press. He has also published research findings in a variety of political science, public health, transportation planning, climate change, communication, law, and economics journals. In addition to his academic work, he is president and co-founder of research4impact, a nonprofit that creates puts many of his research findings into practice by creating powerful new collaborative relationships between researchers, practitioners, and policymakers.