While most Americans continued awaiting the presidential election results, history was silently being made in Delaware.
Sarah McBride, 30, made history on election night by becoming the first openly transgender person to be elected to the state Senate in U.S. history. She easily won her race in Delaware, and has officially become the country’s highest-ranking transgender official.
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“I hope tonight shows an LGBTQ kid that our democracy is big enough for them, too,” McBride tweeted Tuesday night after the election was called. “As Delaware continues to face the COVID crisis, it’s time to get to work to invest in the policies that will make a difference for working families.”
McBride was up against Republican challenger Steve Washington, and beat him comfortably to represent Delaware’s 1st Senate District. The incumbent, Democrat Harris McDowell, did not run for reelection.
While there are still barriers to break when it comes to transgender people holding office in the federal government, this is a huge step forward for representation in the trans community.
McBride is a former spokesperson for the LGBTQ advocacy group Human Rights Campaign and also became the first trans person to speak at a major political convention. She made a speech in 2016 at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia.
You can watch her speech below.
McBride will represent parts of Bellefonte, Claymont and Wilmington, the state’s largest city.
