History has been rewritten yet again as prominent #LGBTQ advocate Sarah McBride has won her Delaware state Senate race.
Following her win, the 30 year old is set to become the first and only openly transgender state senator in the U.S. and the country’s highest-ranking transgender official.
“I hope tonight shows an LGBTQ kid that our democracy is big enough for them, too,” McBride, 30, tweeted Tuesday night after the election. “As Delaware continues to face the Covid crisis, it’s time to get to work to invest in the policies that will make a difference for working families.”
It was an easy win for the transgender activist against Republican Steve Washington to represent Delaware’s 1st Senate District. Incumbent Democrat Harris McDowell, who did not seek re-election after 44 years, had endorsed McBride.
The 1st District covers Bellefonte, Claymont and parts of Wilmington, the state’s largest city.
“I’ve spent my life fighting for people to have dignity, peace of mind, and a fair shot at staying afloat and getting ahead,” McBride said in a statement announcing her candidacy last year. “Sen. McDowell’s retirement at the end of this term is a well-deserved cap on a remarkable career of public service, and now our neighbors need someone who will continue to fight for them.”
This isn’t the first time McBride is crashing headlines; a former spokesperson for the LGBTQ advocacy group Human Rights Campaign, in 2012 she stepped down as American University’s student body president and came out as trans in the school’s student newspaper.
While still in college, she interned with the Obama administration, becoming the first out transgender woman to work in the White House, her campaign announcement states.
McBride also became the first transgender person to speak at a national political convention in 2016 at the age of twenty-six.
There are four transgender people in state legislatures, according to the LGBTQ Victory Fund. The first was Danica Roem, who won a seat in the Virginia House in 2017.
“For Sarah to shatter a lavender ceiling in such a polarizing year is a powerful reminder that voters are increasingly rejecting the politics of bigotry in favor of candidates who stand for fairness and equality,” said Annise Parker, president of the LGBTQ Victory Fund, which works to train and support out candidates.
Alphonso David, president of the Human Rights Campaign, said McBride “made history not just for herself but for our entire community.”
