Sarah McBride, highest-ranking trans elected official in US, to run for Congress
Sarah McBride, the highest-ranked openly transgender elected official in the US, announced she is running for the US House of Representatives this week. If elected, she will be the first openly transgender member of Congress.
“This campaign isn’t just about making history – it’s about moving forward,” said McBride in a press release on Monday. “To strengthen our democracy, we need effective leaders who believe in taking bold action and building bridges for lasting progress.”
McBride is the only openly transgender person serving at the state senator level in the country, but there are seven other state lawmakers who identify as transgender, according to a national tracker by LGBTQ+ Victory Institute.
Her candidacy comes amid an increase in state laws restricting the rights and lifestyles of people who identify as transgender.
So far in 2023, state legislatures have signed into law nearly 80 measures targeting the LGBTQ+ community, “especially transgender youth”, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. The bills include limiting access to gender-affirming care, prohibiting transgender kids from competing in sports and restricting students from using their preferred pronouns.
“Too many politicians want to divide us, to tell us that teachers, doctors, even our own neighbors are the enemy,” McBride said in her announcement video released on Monday.
The video included short clips of Republicans Ron DeSantis, governor of Florida, Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, and Representative Lauren Boebert of Colorado – all of whom have supported legislation advocates have labeled as anti-transgender.
Before running for office, McBride was the national press secretary for the LGBTQ+ advocacy group Human Rights Campaign.
McBride, now 32, was first elected to Delaware’s state legislature in 2020, winning by a landslide in a heavily Democratic district, securing 73% of the vote. She was re-elected in 2022.
She is now running for Delaware’s sole seat in the US House of Representatives. (Alaska, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota and Vermont also each have one at-large representative.)
The at-large seat is being vacated by the incumbent Lisa Blunt Rochester, also a Democrat, who has held the post since 2017. Blunt Rochester is running for Senate this election cycle to replace Senator Tom Carper, who is retiring.
Blunt Rochester supported McBride in her first campaign for state senate and called her a “tireless advocate and trailblazer”.
“I’m incredibly proud of all Sarah has already achieved and am excited to watch the next chapters in her career unfold,” Blunt Rochester told CBS at the time.
In addition to Blunt Rochester, McBride has previously received support from other prominent Delaware lawmakers, including President Joe Biden.
Biden’s late son, Beau Biden, had met McBride during his campaign for Delaware attorney general and described her as a sharp teenager who was “going to change the world”, according to Joe Biden’s foreword in McBride’s 2018 memoir.
As a college student, McBride lobbied for the passage of a Delaware law that ensures equal protections for transgender individuals. She also interned at the White House during the Obama administration.
In the foreword for McBride’s memoir, which was written in 2017, Biden said he was “proud to have been a part of an administration that spoke out and stood up for transgender Americans”.
“But despite that progress, I left the vice-presidency knowing that much of the hardest work remains ahead of us in building a more perfect union for all Americans, no matter their sexual orientation or gender identity,” he wrote. “The history of civil rights in America reminds us that progress is precious and can never be taken for granted.”
If elected, McBride said she will focus on legislation that “addresses gun violence, protects access to abortion and tackles climate change”, according to the campaign announcement.
This article was amended on 28 June 2023. An earlier version incorrectly listed Montana among states with a single at-large congressperson.