Transgender woman wins over toilet bill

A transgender candidate has defeated an incumbent Virginia Republican delegate who sponsored a bill that would have restricted which toilets she could use.

Democrat Danica Roem is set to make history as the first openly transgender person elected and seated in a state legislature in the United States.

She unseated Republican delegate Bob Marshall, one of the state’s longest serving and most socially conservative representatives.

The race was one of the year’s most high profile, drawing international attention and big money to the northern Virginia House of Delegates district outside the US capital.

Democratic House Caucus Chair Charniele Herring said: “It’s historic. It sends a message to politicians everywhere that the politics of bigotry is over.”

Ms Roem will be the first transgender member of the House of Delegates and will become the first out transgender person to win and serve in a state legislature, according to the Victory Fund, a political action committee.