Sarah McBride is the first openly transgender person to be elected as a state senator.
The Democrat was elected in Delaware, defeating Republican Steve Washington. The win makes her the highest-ranking openly transgender official in the U.S.
“I hope tonight shows an LGBTQ kid that our democracy is big enough for them, too,” she said on social media Tuesday night.
The trans-rights activist is the national press secretary at the Human Rights Campaign and served as a White House intern under former president Barack Obama.
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She spoke at the 2016 Democratic National Convention, becoming the first openly transgender person to address a major party convention.
Months before the 2016 convention, she garnered attention while fighting a law in North Carolina that limited public bathroom access for transgender people.
McBride posted a photo of herself in a North Carolina bathroom to challenge House Bill 2 (HB2) — or the “bathroom bill” – legislation that overturned local laws that would have expanded protections for the LGBT community.
North Carolina partially repealed its “bathroom bill” following an economic and political backlash.
Elsewhere, Taylor Small was elected as Vermont’s first transgender state legislator.
— With files from Andrew Russell and The Associated Press