Updated Wednesday, Nov. 9, at 11:57 a.m.
Vermont’s Democratic U.S. Rep. Peter Welch is set to become U.S. Sen. Peter Welch.
After nearly 16 years as Vermont’s lone member of the U.S. House, Welch will move to the upper chamber come January, the Associated Press projected almost immediately after polls closed on Tuesday.
With all but one of Vermont’s 283 precincts reporting early Wednesday morning, according to the Secretary of State’s Office, Welch defeated his Republican opponent, political newcomer Gerald Malloy, 67% to 27%.
Welch’s first act as senator-elect was to hold a private event for supporters at the Hula coworking space in Burlington, at which he delivered a victory speech moments after his race was called. Private security and his staff refused to admit a VTDigger reporter.
More than an hour later, Welch took the stage at a Vermont Democratic Party gathering to celebrate his victory. His large Irish family — as Welch’s wife, Margaret Cheney, called it — filled the stage behind him, extending down a ramp to the floor. (One woman in the audience said to herself, “My God, they just keep coming.”)
Welch’s victory speech was celebratory, but had a grim undercurrent: He harkened back to the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, during which supporters of former President Donald Trump attempted to interrupt the certification of President Joe Biden’s election, and said his Senate victory “is in the shadow of what happened on January 6.”
“I was there when the Capitol was attacked and the shot was fired and the doors were broken down and everyone was dismayed,” he said. “This election, unlike any other elections, has democracy right front and center on the ballot.”
Minutes after the race was called for Welch, Malloy fled the Vermont Republican Party’s election gathering at the Elks Lodge in Barre. He did not deliver a concession speech or speak to reporters. His wife and campaign spokesperson, Stacey Malloy, rejected multiple calls from VTDigger.
“We’ve given this administration, Peter Welch in tow, the opportunity to govern for the last two years,” Malloy wrote in a since-deleted tweet at 8 p.m., roughly one hour after his race was called. “It’s gotten us to the turning point that we’re at, and it’s time to make a choice for something better.”
Roughly 15 hours after the race was called, Malloy publicly conceded and congratulated the senator-elect on Twitter.
Welch and Malloy were competing to succeed Democrat Patrick Leahy, who is currently the longest-serving member of the U.S. Senate. Welch launched his bid to take Leahy’s seat last November, just a week after Leahy announced that he would retire after nearly 50 years in office. The Democratic establishment rallied around Welch’s candidacy, and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., was quick to endorse his congressional colleague.
On the campaign trail, Welch pitched himself to voters as a devoted Leahy ally who will carry forward the veteran senator’s priorities.
“We have an obligation to the legacy of Patrick Leahy and to the future of Vermonters to make certain that we do not turn the gavel over to Mitch McConnell,” Welch told supporters at his primary election night party in August, referring to the Republican Senate minority leader from Kentucky.
Onstage at the Vermont Democratic Party gathering Tuesday night, with his wife Marcelle at his side, Leahy said he made up his mind last year that he would retire and “be back home and have more time with our children and grandchildren.”
“But I also saw the way the country is going,” he said.
“The one thing that gave me hope at all during this time was watching who would be the next senator,” Leahy said. “I don't want somebody to be a rubber stamp. ... I want somebody who will have Vermont values. Peter Welch has those values and he's our next senator.”
At his campaign events and in debates, Welch asserted that the stakes were high for his election. On the ballot this midterm election were dozens of candidates across the country who peddled Trump’s baseless claims that the 2020 election was stolen, and many of those candidates threatened not to concede if they lost Tuesday. Welch has said that the fate of American democracy could depend on Democrats’ ability to hang on to their razor-thin majorities in Congress.
Welch’s insistence that Trump and his allies pose a threat to democracy illustrated a sharp contrast between himself and his Republican opponent, Malloy. Malloy is an unabashed Trump supporter and said early in his candidacy that he wasn’t present at the Jan. 6, 2021, protests, but “wished” he had been. Malloy has appeared on a slew of national conservative media programs, including numerous appearances on the podcasts of Trump ally Steve Bannon.
Just days before Tuesday’s election, Trump piped up in Vermont’s Senate contest, offering Malloy his endorsement.
"Malloy knows how to fight to Protect our Country, Uphold the Constitution, and Restore the Rule of Law,” Trump’s Save America PAC said in its endorsement message. “As U.S. Senator, Malloy will work very hard to Reduce Crime, Stop Inflation, Secure our Border, Protect our under siege Second Amendment, and Restore American Energy Independence, and even Dominance."
While Malloy saw Trump’s endorsement as a badge of honor, Welch pegged it as evidence that Malloy’s politics are out of step with Vermonters. Vermont voted for Biden in 2020 by the largest margin in the country.
"Mr. Malloy voted for former President Trump twice; I voted to impeach Trump twice. Mr. Malloy wished he was at the Capitol on 1/6; I wish that the insurrection never happened," Welch said shortly after the endorsement. "Mr. Malloy knows what comes with a Trump endorsement — unflinching allegiance to him and his destructive whims. I’m running to be Vermont’s next Senator to strengthen our democracy and fight for working families. We need all Vermonters to vote and make their voices heard — for Vermont, for our country, and for our democracy.”
For two years, Senate Democrats have held a narrow 50-50 majority, with Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris offering a tie-breaking vote. But still, numerous Democratic priorities have died or been scaled down because of the Senate’s parliamentary filibuster rule, which requires a 60-vote majority to pass major pieces of legislation.
Throughout his campaign, Welch has said he is willing to change the Senate’s filibuster rules in order to accomplish major Democratic priorities, such as passing a law to protect to abortion access nationwide in response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey.
“It's a staggering decision by the Supreme Court to strip away a constitutional right that women had for 50 years,” Welch said at a debate hosted by VTDigger in September. “In the House, I have already voted for, and we've passed in the House, the Women's Health Protection Act. It would restore reproductive freedom to all women in this nation. In the Senate, if I were there now, I would vote for it. And I would vote to end the filibuster, if that's what it took. … I will not stop, I will not compromise on protecting reproductive freedom.”
Malloy, on the other hand, celebrated the court’s decision to overturn Roe, saying the issue of abortion should be left to individual state governments to decide. Throughout his campaign, he wavered on whether he would vote in favor of a nationwide abortion ban.
Welch is a veteran of Vermont politics, having served nearly 16 years in Congress, and before that, two stints in the state Legislature, including two stints as state Senate president pro tempore. Malloy is new to politics and relatively new to Vermont, having moved to the state in 2020. His primary-election victory over former U.S. attorney Christina Nolan, who had the early support of major Republican power players, was considered a major upset.
As recently as October, the University of New Hampshire and WCAX found in a poll that 43% of likely voters surveyed still did not know enough about Malloy to have an opinion of him. By contrast, only 3% said they didn’t know enough about Welch. Asked how they planned to vote in the Senate race, 62% said they would vote for Welch to Malloy’s 28%. The margin of error was 3.5%.
A sizable campaign bank account also helped to bolster Welch’s presence this campaign cycle. In its final pre-election filing with the Federal Election Commission, the Welch campaign reported a balance of $2.4 million left in the bank.
Welch entered the Senate race with $2.1 million already on hand from his numerous House campaigns, funded in part by donations from corporate political action committees, or PACs. This year, Welch swore off corporate donations, but continued to accept contributions from high-powered industry groups that frequently lobby Congress.
Leahy’s retirement concludes a lengthy, historic chapter of Vermont political history. Leahy is the third-longest-serving U.S. senator in American history, and his 47-year Senate career saw the impeachments of three U.S. presidents, the beginnings and conclusions of numerous wars, the confirmation of the first female U.S. Supreme Court justice, the foreign and domestic response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the election of the country’s first Black president, the ebb and flow of economic boom and collapse, and the deadliest pandemic in the country’s history.
Asked by VTDigger Tuesday night how it felt not to be on the ballot for the first election in nearly 50 years, Leahy said, “You know, it’s comforting.”
“My feeling is, I've done what I wanted to do.”
Riley Robinson contributed reporting.
