Sarah McBride becomes the first out transgender person elected to Congress

WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — Delaware state Sen. Sarah McBride won the state's only House seat on Tuesday, making her the first openly transgender person elected to Congress, according to NBC News.

McBride, a Democrat, defeated Republican John Whalen III, receiving 57.8% of the vote, with 95% of the votes cast.

“Tonight is a testament to the people of Delaware that here in our neighboring state, we judge candidates on their ideas, not their identities,” McBride said Tuesday night at the Democratic caucuses in Delaware.

She thanked her friends and family, as well as her late husband Andy Cray, who died of cancer in 2014 just days after their wedding.

“My time with Andy confirmed to me the simple truth that hope as an emotion, hope as a phenomenon, only makes sense in the face of hardship,” she said. “While it may sometimes seem difficult to find hope at this moment in American history, we must never forget that we are the beneficiaries of a seemingly impossible change.”

McBride's main priorities for her congressional run were improving access to affordable health care, protecting reproductive rights, and increasing the minimum wage. She told NBC News in September that her goal in Congress was to work with colleagues to break through partisan gridlock and actually pass legislation – something she became known for during her time in the Delaware Senate. During her first term, she helped pass universal paid family and medical leave statewide.

Jake Carpenter, 42, works in finance at a college near Lincoln, Delaware, and said he met McBride at a meet and greet in August when he asked her, “What did you promise and how did you do it?” ” She walked him through the policies she was working on in the state Senate and “she sold me on it,” he said.

“I knew she was trans, and being gay myself, I wanted to see someone like me, someone from my community, succeed,” Carpenter said. “She’s like a hero to me.”

He knocked on dozens of doors in Sussex County, the only Republican-majority county in the state, to talk to people about McBride's program. He said he convinced six Republicans to vote for McBride.

He added that he is an advisor for an LGBTQ club at the college he works for and that “this is a really big deal for my trans students.”

Kelley Robinson, president of the Human Rights Campaign, the country's largest LGBTQ advocacy organization, described McBride's victory as “a milestone on the road to equality.”

“This historic victory reflects not only the increasing acceptance of transgender people in our society, driven by the courage of visible leaders like Sarah, but also her persistent work to demonstrate that she is an effective legislator who will deliver real results,” Robinson said. In a statement, HRC said it was proud that McBride, who was previously the organization's national press secretary, is “reimagining the halls of Congress.”

McBride is no stranger to making history. She first made headlines in April 2012 when she came out as transgender in American University's student newspaper at the end of her term as student body president.

That same year, she became the first out trans woman to work in the White House when she interned with the Obama administration, according to her 2018 memoir, “Tomorrow Will Be Different: Love, Loss, and.” the Fight for Trans Equality”.

Then, in 2016, she became the first trans person to speak at a major political convention when she gave a speech at the Democratic National Convention.

In 2020, she was elected to represent Delaware's 1st Senate District, which includes Claymont, Bellefonte, and parts of Edgemoor and Wilmington, becoming the first openly trans state senator in the country.

McBride was interested in politics from a young age. By the time she was 18, she had volunteered for or worked on at least three political campaigns, including Beau Biden's campaign for attorney general in 2006 and his re-election campaign in 2010. Nearly a decade later, Joe Biden wrote the foreword to her memoir .

McBride said that as she voted Tuesday, she thought about how powerful it was to vote for Kamala Harris for president; Lisa Blunt Rochester, who won her Senate race and will be the first woman and first Black person to represent Delaware in the Senate; and then herself.

“This ticket is not a final destination, but it reflects how far we have come, that no matter who you are, what you look like, where you come from, or what gender you identify with, you can live your truth and dream big dreams at the same time,” McBride said. “It’s not the end, but it’s the beginning.”

McBride's historic victory comes in an election cycle in which Republicans are relying on anti-transgender rhetoric and political advertising. Republicans spent more than $200 million on network television ads targeting transgender people this year. That's according to data shared with NBC News on Tuesday by AdImpact, an analytics firm that tracks political advertising spending. Former President Donald Trump and his running mate JD Vance have embraced anti-trans rhetoric on the campaign trail, and during the Republican National Convention in July, at least a dozen speakers negatively mentioned gender or sexuality in their speeches, according to an NBC news analysis.