Transgender Trailblazer Sarah McBride Is Running For Congress
The Delaware Democratic state senator and transgender trailblazer will seek the state's sole congressional seat in 2024.
Delaware State Sen. Sarah McBride, the nation’s first transgender person elected to the upper chamber of a state legislature, has announced her intention to run for the U.S. Congress in 2024.
If elected, she would become the first out transgender member of Congress.
She was elected to her current position in 2020, and is running to succeed Democratic U.S. Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester, who is running for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by retiring Democratic U.S. Sen. Tom Carper.
McBride, a native Delawarean, has established a reputation as a smart, competent organizer among Democratic political circles within her home state, due in part to her work on behalf of former Delaware Gov. Jack Markell’s gubernatorial campaign.
McBride has been a longtime ally of President Biden and his family, and worked on the late Beau Biden’s campaigns for attorney general.
She became the first out transgender White House employee in 2012, and while working for the Human Rights Campaign, was granted the honor of being a speaker at the Democratic National Convention in 2016.
In a video announcing her campaign launch, McBride establishes herself as a progressive who has accomplished things, citing her work to pass family and medical leave as a state senator.
She also cast her campaign as a campaign for the voiceless and the marginalized, pledging to give them the representation they deserve.
In the ad, she refers to — without directly addressing — attacks targeted at the LGBTQ community restricting access to health care and which kinds of topics can be discussed in school classrooms, while pictures of right-wing politicians like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Georgia Congresswoman Majorie Taylor Greene, and Colorado Congresswoman Lauren Boebert flash across the screen.
“This campaign isn’t just about making history – it’s about moving forward,” McBride said in a statement. “In Congress, I’ll support a strong agenda that invests in workers and families, addresses gun violence, protects access to abortion and tackles climate change.”
Other prominent Delaware officials are expected to jump into the race for the state’s sole congressional seat, especially on the Democratic side in the liberal-leaning state. But McBride has rolled out her campaign with endorsements from the state auditor and attorney general, as well as 21 of her state senate colleagues, and the state’s largest private sector union, reports Axios.
Several pro-LGBTQ advocacy groups, including the Human Rights Campaign PAC, the LGBTQ+ Victory Fund, and Equality PAC, the official political action committee of the Congressional LGBTQ Equality Caucus, have also endorsed her.
“Sarah has proven time and again through her service that she has a deep understanding of the problems Delawareans face, and will help protect the rights of all people, no matter their race, color, creed, gender, or sexual orientation,” Equality PAC co-chairs Mark Takano (D-Calif.) and Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.) said in a statement. “And as MAGA extremists target and demonize members of the trans community at all levels of our government, this is our moment to make history by ensuring that the trans community has a seat at the table as our nation’s policies and laws are being discussed and debated.
“Sarah will bring a strong and unique voice to the most vulnerable in our community and her election will show the world that even in the face of seemingly endless attacks and hate, we proudly stood up and asserted once and for all that trans lives and trans representation matters.
“As a community — and particularly in this moment — we have a responsibility to let history blaze its path and build a winning coalition that will get Sarah across the finish line and resoundingly elect her the first trans person ever elected to Congress.”
Watch Sarah McBride’s campaign launch video below:
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