Congress Has Its First Openly Trans Member

Delaware voters on Tuesday elected the first-ever openly transgender member of Congress. Democrat Sarah McBride was elected to an at-large seat in the House of Representatives, the AP reports. With 95% of the vote in, she had 57.8% of the vote, NBC News reports. McBride already entered the history books when she became the only openly trans state senator in the US in 2020, and four years before that, when she became the first trans speaker to address a major party's national convention. She was also the first openly trans woman to work in the White House when she was an intern for Barack Obama's administration, per her memoir.

"Tonight is a testament to Delawareans that here in our state of neighbors, we judge candidates based on their ideas and not their identities," McBride said at an election night celebration. In a statement, the president of the Human Rights Campaign called McBride's win a "landmark" moment. "This historic victory reflects not only increasing acceptance of transgender people in our society, ushered in by the courage of visible leaders like Sarah, but also her dogged work in demonstrating that she is an effective lawmaker who will deliver real results," she says. McBride once worked as the HRC's national press secretary.

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