Sarah McBride Announces Bid to Become First Trans Member of Congress

It isn’t uncommon for state lawmakers to launch campaigns to level up and join the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington, D.C. Delaware state Sen. Sarah McBride’s announcement on Monday morning is particularly notable, though, as if her campaign is successfully she will become the first trans person to serve in Congress.

“My commitment is to the people in Delaware who aren’t seen, who don’t shout the loudest or fund political campaigns — parents busy raising their children, seniors worried about paying for prescription drugs, working people struggling to keep up,” McBride, 32, said her announcement video. “Everyone deserves a member of Congress who sees them and respects them.”

Delaware only has one congressional seat, and current Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester announced last week that she will be leaving the post so she can run to replace retiring Sen. Thomas Carper in the Senate. McBride won’t be the only Democrat vying to replace Rochester, but her chances are promising. She brought in over 70 percent of the vote to win her state Senate seat in 2020.

McBride has long been a trailblazer for the trans community. She became the first trans person to work in the White House in 2012 when she started as an intern in the Obama administration. She was also the first trans person to speak at the Democratic National Convention. “Four years ago I came out as transgender while serving as student body president in college,” she said there in 2016. “At the time, I was scared. I worried that my dreams and my identity were mutually exclusive. Since then, though, I have seen that change is possible.”

McBride is running to enter Congress as the Republican Party has waged an all-out assault on trans rights across America. The New York Times points out that 17 states have passed legislation restricting gender-affirming care for trans youth, and everyone from right-wing influencers on Twitter to the party’s presidential candidates have centered a good chunk of their messaging around demonizing trans Americans.

“Too many politicians want to divide us, to tell us that teachers, doctors, and even our own neighbors are the enemy,” McBride said in her announcement video. “Blocking out the noise and focusing on what matters isn’t easy … It takes guts and a backbone.”

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