When the U.S. House of Representatives swears in its new members in January 2025, it will include the first-ever openly transgender person in Congressional history.
Democrat Sarah McBride was projected by the Associated Press to have won her election in the state of Delaware’s only House seat, with her currently holding 58 per cent of the vote against Republican John Whalen’s 42 per cent, with 78 per cent of the votes counted.
McBride achieved national recognition in 2016 when she became the first openly transgender person to address a major party convention when she delivered an address at the 2016 Democratic National Convention.
Nearly a decade later, she is projected as the winner against Whalen, a retired construction company owner and former state trooper.
After winning her primary in September, McBride told The Associate Press she was not looking to make history in her run for Congress but to “make historic progress for Delawareans.”
Prior to her Congressional run, the 34-year-old served as a state senator for Delaware, with her focusing on health-care issues for much of her time in office.
She was the first openly transgender person to serve as a state senator when elected in 2020, and first to intern at the White House in 2012.
Following the news of her projected victory, Kelley Robinson. president of the Human Rights Campaign — a non-profit LGBTQ+ civil rights organization — congratulated McBride.
“As the first openly transgender person to serve in Congress, we couldn’t be more proud of Congresswoman-elect and former @HRC national press secretary @SarahEMcBride,” Robinson wrote. “I’m so excited and thrilled to have this history-making champion reshaping the halls of Congress.”
McBride grew up in Wilmington, Del. and came out in 2011 after she said was years of knowing she was trans.
She has said her involvement in politics was due to wanting to create a more inclusive environment.
“Anyone who worries that the heart of this country is not big enough to love them should know that they belong … Our democracy is big enough for all of us,” McBride told Reuters in terms of what message transgender Americans should take from her expected election.
Democrats have held the seat since 2010. It was left open last year after Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester opted to run for the U.S. Senate seat, who also won her own seat.
—with files from The Associated Press and Reuters