Sarah McBride Becomes First Trans Member Of Congress

Sarah McBride has made history as the first openly trans person to be elected to Congress per NBC News and Reuters. The Democrat will now fill the state’s lone seat in the U.S. Houses.

McBride’s Republican opponent, James Whalen III, a retired state police officer, largely campaigned on stopping illegal immigration and reducing the federal debt.

McBride ran a progressive campaign, focusing on issues affecting workers and families, as she had done during her time in the Delaware state assembly. Her key priorities include expanding access to affordable health care, protecting reproductive rights, and raising paid family leave and the minimum wage.

Her victory was largely expected in the blue home state of President Joe Biden, and the congressional seat has been held by Democrats since 2010.

Kelley Robinson, the president of the Human Rights Campaign, said in an emailed statement that McBride’s win “reflects not only increasing acceptance of transgender people in our society, ushered in by the courage of visible leaders like Sarah, but also her dogged work in demonstrating that she is an effective lawmaker who will deliver real results.”

McBride’s win represents a historic moment for Congress ― and for the nation — that a trans person will be a federal lawmaker as Republicans have increasingly leveraged political and rhetorical attacks against trans people.

“For someone who’s scared and feels alone, it could potentially be a lifesaving message to go to sleep in November seeing that someone like them is able to fully participate in our democracy, that they can be seen as full human beings,” McBride told NBC News in September. “They can be judged and evaluated as candidates for public office on their merits and their ideas, and that maybe, just maybe, the heart of this country is big enough to love them.”

However, she told The Associated Press in September that she was “not running to make history,” and that her constituents support her based “on ability, not identity.”

“I’m running to make historic progress for Delawareans,” she said.

The 34-year-old politician will be sworn into office in January with over a decade of political advocacy work. McBride first cut her teeth crafting LGBTQ+ policies for the Center for American Progress and then went on to become the press secretary for the Human Rights Campaign, the country’s largest LGBTQ+ advocacy organization.

In 2016, she was the first out trans woman to work at the White House when she interned for the Obama administration. That same year, McBride took the national spotlight when she spoke out against anti-LGBTQ+ legislation and discrimination at the Democratic National Convention, and became the first openly trans person to speak at a major political convention.

As an undergrad at American University, McBride made lasting connections with the Biden family. During that time she worked as a staffer on several campaigns for former Delaware Gov. Jack Markell, and for Joe Biden’s late son and former state Attorney General Beau Biden.

After Beau’s death in 2015, McBride cultivated a close friendship with Joe Biden, and he authored the foreword to her 2018 memoir, “Tomorrow Will Be Different.” Her friendship with Biden and his late son have dramatically transformed the president’s personal and political stances on transgender issues, helping him to become one of the most pro-LGBTQ politicians of our time, Politico reported last year. When McBride won the Democratic primary in September, Biden told the Washington Blade that he called her and said, “Beau is looking down from heaven, congratulating you.”

In 2021, as a state senator, McBride sponsored and helped pass legislation that allows employees to take up to 12 weeks of paid parental leave and six weeks of paid leave for caregiving or medical needs. The program will go into effect Jan. 1, 2026.

The following year, when Republican state lawmakers introduced SB 227, a bill that would bar transgender students from participating in school sports that align with their gender identity, McBride gave a passionate defense of LGBTQ+ rights.

“I didn’t run for this office to talk about transgender identities, I ran because I want to pass policies that empower and uplift policies that expand access to health care and address the mental health crisis facing our students,” she said when opposing the bill. “But when legislation comes before me that goes after young people, that goes a step too far.”

“I want to say, as a senator, as the chair of this committee, and as a trans person, to the trans kids and their families watching this hearing: Your government sees you and, for the first time ever, really understands you,” she said. “You are loved and you are worthy. Trans people are here to stay.”

Washington Democrats have signaled they are both excited and anxious about McBride joining Congress.

Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.), a member of the House Equality Caucus, told NOTUS (a new journalism education organization) in October that McBride was “the most important person we got to elect to Congress.”

“I think we’re all going to be excited to see her, but also see those Republicans having to interact with her and treat her in a way they treat everybody else, and she has the same voice and same vote as everyone else,” Garcia said.

Those close to McBride have noted her skillful ability to reach across the aisle and work with Republican colleagues in Delaware. But it remains to be seen how she’ll fare with far-right members of Congress who have pushed increasingly hostile rhetoric and legislation against LGBTQ+ people into the mainstream.

McBride, however, who in the midterm election cycle was targeted with anti-trans tropes, is ready for the task at hand.

“It’s the power of our presence that combats the mischaracterizations and the demonization that we see of a community that’s in the crosshairs of right-wing attacks,” McBride told NOTUS. “That is how you actually more effectively combat these attacks. It’s not … through a tweet, it’s not through a press release. It’s by demonstrating the wholeness of the humanity of trans folks, by being a great doctor, a great lawyer, a great educator, a great member of Congress.”

See full results from the Delaware House election here.