FEC records show donations from wealthy, big business out-of-state donors, and recent contributions from corporate PACS. During the 2022 campaign, Balint criticized opponent Molly Gray for accepted Big Sugar $$ from a PAC.
Editor’s note: this story has been edited to remove or significantly edit several sentences appearing to republish, without attribution, sentences from an August 25 VT Digger news story. Digger ‘broke the story’ and our own efforts to report the story resulted in this journalistic error. Our apologies to Digger and to reporter Shaun Robinson.
By Paul Bean
A political action committee (PAC) that donates political contributions to Rep. Becca Balint, Vermont’s lone U.S. congressperson, disclosed thousands in contributions from Google, Nike, and Universal Music Group in its most recent federal filing.
According to VT Digger, Balint, D-Vt., recently told supporters that she does not accept corporate PAC money. “Hi, it’s Becca,” she wrote last month in a campaign email. “I don’t take corporate PAC money.”
According to Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings, Balint’s campaign has not directly accepted contributions from corporate PACs, which are political action committees explicitly tied to corporations.
She has received significant funding from other types of PACs, including those linked to trade associations, unions, and ideological groups, some of which indirectly represent corporate interests.
In the first half of 2025, “Courage PAC,” a Burlington-based PAC established by Balint, received thousands in donations from PACs connected to major corporations, per its latest FEC report.
Per its July 31 FEC filing, Balint’s Courage PAC reported $13,500 in contributions for the first half of 2025, with over half from corporate-linked PACs: $5,000 from Nike’s federal PAC, $2,500 from Universal Music Group’s PAC, and $1,000 from Google’s federal PAC, as reported by VTdigger.
Balint’s campaign also accepted contributions from individual corporate executives and lobbyists, which are not classified as corporate PAC money but still connect her to corporate networks.
FEC data shows donations from leaders at companies in tech and healthcare, sectors with significant influence in Washington. Since January first, her top eight individual donors were from out of state and the number one donor, Caroline Niemczyk, currently serves as chair of the Yale Institute for Biospheric Studies and serves on the advisory boards of the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies.
Balint also accepted her largest individual donations from these out-of-state residents:
- Christopher Randle, who used to work in the Legislative Offices in Congress, now works for Meta (Facebook) and donated $3,500.
- Adam Sappern, former Windsor County (VT) Justice of the Peace, and is now the President of MBB Capital Partners Family Office in Chicago Illinois: $5,035.
- Brian Pryzbyski, a lawyer from Washington DC donated: $3,500.
- Kathryn Millis, a public policy and legal professional in homeland security, immigration enforcement, and federal immigration policy donated: $3,300.
- Joseph Alsop, a 1967 MIT BSEE graduate, founded Progress Software Inc., served as its CEO until 2009, and now works as a Venture Partner investing in and consulting for tech companies donated: $3,300.
- Former Congressman Chet Atkins from Massachusetts’ 5th Congressional District donated $3,300.
According to July’s FEC filings, around two-thirds of the funds raised by Balint’s campaign in the first half of 2025 came from individual donors. The remaining portion largely came from PACs tied to various industries, labor groups, and cooperatives, including one notably involved in the heated final stretch of Balint’s 2022 primary race against Molly Gray. Balint defeated Gray and went on to win her first term in Congress.
You may remember, during the 2022 primary, Balint’s campaign criticized Gray for accepting a donation from a PAC linked to American Crystal Sugar Company, the nation’s leading beet sugar producer.
Balint’s team accused the Minnesota-based cooperative of being the top donor to Republican lawmakers who actively supported the January 6th insurrection. A report from the nonpartisan watchdog Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington confirmed that American Crystal Sugar’s PAC was among the largest contributors to members of Congress who opposed certifying the 2020 presidential election.
Balint herself faced scrutiny after the 2022 primary when campaign finance records revealed that Nishad Singh, a former advisor to disgraced cryptocurrency executive Sam Bankman-Fried, had contributed $1.1 million to a PAC that funded pro-Balint ads.
Balint’s campaign later stated it had no coordination with Singh during the ad campaign. However, as reported by VDC: Balint’s campaign policy goals closely resembled those of the Protect Our Futures PAC established by the founder of FTX.
POF PAC website: “We must establish independent oversight of dual-use research including enforcement mechanisms to ensure safety and security.
Balint website: “Establish independent oversight of labs conducting dual-use research of concern.”
This was simply Balint parroting for profit, Republican nominee Liam Madden claimed in a campaign op-ed. “This policy is something that was inconvenient to support before. It was politically expensive, so Balint hadn’t the courage to breathe a peep about it—until it paid,” he said.