Sarah McBride To Make History as First Trans State Senator

Author and activist Sarah McBride is poised to become the first out trans person serving in the upper chamber of a state legislature, according to the New York Times. The former Obama administration staffer and current National Press Secretary for Human Rights Campaign won the Democratic primary for Delaware's first state senate district. The seat is considered a sure-bet for Democrats and McBride is expected to win the general election in November.

"My hope is that this result can help reinforce for a young kid trying to find their place in this world, here in Delaware or anywhere else in this country, that this democracy is big enough for them, too," McBride told the New York Times following her primary victory.

McBride is replacing retiring fellow Democrat Harris B. McDowell III, who represented the district for 44 years.

"Sarah McBride is one of the most impressive people I have had the privilege to meet," Alphonso B. David, president of HRC, said in a statement. "From her brilliant policy expertise to her ability to inspire and empathize, Sarah is the epitome of what can make an elected official great. Tonight, she takes the first step on what I expect to be a storied career in the public realm."

McBride has long been politically active. Previously, she was a part of the late Governor Jack Markell's 2008 campaign and the late Beau Biden's 2010 campaign for Delaware Attorney General. In 2011, during her last week in office as student body president at American University, McBride announced that she was a transgender woman in her school's newspaper. She was embraced by her community and received messages of support from many including both Attorney General Beau Biden as well as his father, then-Vice President Joe Biden. Lady Gaga's Born This Way Foundation even posted the story.

She later went to intern as the first out transgender person to work in the White House in any capacity, in 2012. While there, she worked on LGBTQ+ issues in the White House Office of Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs. In 2016, she was the first transgender person to speak at a national political convention when she took the Democratic stage in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Two years later, in 2018 she published Tomorrow Will Be Different: Love, Loss, and the Fight for Trans Equality.

While recognizing the significance of McBride's primary win, David indicated HRC is losing a valuable contributor to their many causes.

"While we will be sad to lose her as a staff member at the Human Rights Campaign, we are overjoyed to have been a piece of her story," he observed. "Congratulations Sarah."

RELATED | Two Women Harassed a Trans Advocate on Behalf of the "LGB Community"