Delaware State Senator Sarah McBride on Monday launched a historic bid for the state’s only seat in the US House of Representatives, which, if successful, would make her the first transgender person elected to office. federal.
“It’s clear that diversity in government is necessary for us to not only make sure we have a healthy democracy, but to really deliver on the people,” the Democrat told The News Journal. on Monday.
McBride would replace Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester, who launched her US Senate campaign in Delaware on Wednesday.
Billing herself as a progressive who likes to “get things done,” McBride said a number of key issues, including criminal justice reform, abortion rights and gun violence, drove her decision. to apply, according to your campaign site.
As a state senator, McBride led a successful effort to codify universal paid family and medical leave throughout the state. He also maintains close ties to the Biden family: McBride worked on Beau Biden’s 2010 campaign for Delaware attorney general and, later, Joe Biden wrote the foreword to his 2018 memoir.
McBride is no stranger to breaking down political barriers. She famously became the Obama administration first trans intern in 2012, and later served as the national press secretary for the Human Rights Campaign.
McBride was also the first trans person to speak at a Democratic National Convention in 2016; she led lobbying efforts to enact a landmark anti-discrimination law in the Delaware State Senate; and, in 2021, she became the first trans state senator in the United States.
In its interview with daily newsMcBride acknowledged the historic nature of her candidacy, but added that she is “not running for trans member of Congress.”
“I’m running to be a member of the Delaware Congress that focuses on making progress on all issues that are important to Delawareans of all backgrounds,” he said.
McBride, a graduate of American University in Washington, DC, first gained national attention in her time as student body president, when she wrote a 2012 op-ed in the student newspaper, The Eagle, titled “The real me”, in which he explained his decision to come out as transgender.
McBride wrote that she had long been interested in politics, but felt that her political ambitions and her identity were mutually exclusive. “Now I know that my dreams and my identity are only mutually exclusive if I don’t try,” McBride concluded.
