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The Ohio candidate’s platform includes lifting the federal ban on marijuana, giving every household access to a free car, and paying Black Americans reparations for slavery.
Pete Buttigieg isn't the only LGBTQ+ presidential candidate.
Meet Pamela Rocker, a 35-year-old trans woman from Cheviot, Ohio, who announced her campaign earlier this year. A Democrat, she filed her statement of candidacy with the Federal Elections Commission earlier this year.
Rocker -- who would be a whole lot of firsts if elected president in 2020, including the first female president, the first trans president, and the first Black woman to be president -- toldThe Cincinnati Enquirer that she was inspired to run by Donald Trump's win, which she calls "a nightmare," as well as by Hillary Clinton's defeat.
"I just didn't want to sit on the sidelines," she said. "I was unhappy with the outcome of the 2016 election. Hillary, she inspired me. She lit something inside me. She opened the door for women and trans women of color to run."
In a campaign video posted on YouTube, she adds that she wants to "create awareness and visibility for LGBT people and for the rights of trans people of color."
"Even the white man should be tired of the white man running and ruining this country," she says in the clip. "Since its very existence, our founding fathers really saw the brightest and the best for our country, and that's equality for all."
Her platform includes lifting the federal ban on marijuana, using the funds from that to give every household in the United States access to a free car, and issuing monetary reparations for slavery -- something that fellow Democratic hopefuls Julian Castro and Marianne Williamson have also voiced their support for.
Rocker -- who has never held public office, though she says she did get a song on the Noah's Arc: Jumping the Broom soundtrack under the stage name Pam Jones -- is one of at least 670 people to have filed an official statement of candidacy with the FEC in anticipation of the 2020 election, the Enquirer notes. More than 1,700 people filed such paperwork during the 2016 election cycle, which was apparently more than the four elections before it combined.
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