"I spent my entire life feeling like tonight was so incomprehensible that it was seemingly impossible," Sarah McBride told BuzzFeed News.
Amber Jamieson BuzzFeed News Reporter
Posted on November 3, 2020
Sarah McBride / Via sarahmcbride.com
Sarah McBride, the first openly trans state senator in US history.
Sarah McBride, a 30-year-old LGBTQ activist, will become the most powerful openly trans lawmaker in the nation after winning her state senator race in Delaware during Tuesday's elections.
Just moments after her win, she told BuzzFeed News that she hopes her achievement as the first-ever openly trans state senator will encourage other young LGBTQ people to follow their dreams.
"I am hopeful that tonight's result can send a potentially lifesaving message to a young trans kid," said McBride. "They can go to sleep knowing that their dreams and their truths are not mutually exclusive."
McBride, a former White House intern in the Obama administration and later the press secretary for the Human Rights Campaign, came out as trans when she was serving as the student body president of American University in Washington, DC, in 2012.
She was in the car driving to her election party on Tuesday when the first round of votes came in showing she might win. Shortly after getting to the party at a local small business in Wilmington, the Associated Press and the New York Times called the race for her.
"I spent my entire life feeling like tonight was so incomprehensible that it was seemingly impossible," she said. "To have those results come in and see in black and white online the AP call it ... helped to reinforce that nothing is truly impossible."
McBride named fellow Democrat Danica Roem, who was elected as the first openly trans state lawmaker to the Virginia House of Delegates in 2017, as one of the people who paved the way for her to run.
On Tuesday night, Roem tweeted her congrats to McBride, declaring that she was "so, so so, so proud."
Danica Roem@pwcdanica
Update: She was ready. She did run. And she just won. @SarahEMcBride, I am so, so, so, so proud of you, of who you are, of the campaign you ran and the values you stand for. I'm so grateful for your friendship and to call you the first out trans state senator in American history. https://t.co/GjPl4IgRh302:04 AM - 04 Nov 2020
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McBride pointed out that when she was growing up, the only public references to trans people were "punchlines in a comedy or a dead body in a drama" and that she didn't get to see trans people in positions of power.
"I know how much of a difference it would have made for me as a young person struggling for my place in the world," she told BuzzFeed News. "Growing up, there was no example of something like this."
The new state senator–elect for Delaware said she hopes she becomes known as "the healthcare senator and the paid-leave senator" — two issues, she said, made even more important by the coronavirus pandemic.
McBride knows the power of healthcare and paid leave; her husband Andy died from cancer when she was just 24.
She recalled that one of the most tragic and beautiful conversations she'd had with her late husband in his final months was him crying for all the things he would miss — the nieces and nephews he wouldn't get to see grow up, the family members he would miss, and "the fact that he wouldn't be able to tell me he loved me and was proud of me."
"Because it was so sad, it’s seared in my memory," said McBride. "This evening I can hear Andy’s voice saying, 'I love you and I'm proud of you.'"
Jason Minto / AP
McBride campaigning on Sept. 15 in Claymont, Delaware.
Another Delaware Democrat who has closely followed her journey is Joe Biden, the Democratic presidential nominee. McBride volunteered on his son Beau Biden's campaign for attorney general of Delaware, and she later became the first openly trans speaker at a political convention when she spoke at the 2016 DNC.
"In doing this work, I return to the most important lessons my father taught me and my children," wrote Joe Biden in the foreword to McBride's memoir Tomorrow Will Be Different, "the same principle that animates courageous advocates like Sarah McBride: that all people are entitled to be treated with dignity and respect."
McBride said despite her own win, she will "anxiously watch" the national results on Tuesday night, hoping that Biden becomes the next president.
But whatever happens, she's focusing on her new role representing the people of Delaware. "As much work as the last year was, the real work begins tomorrow," she said before heading off to give her victory party speech to a crowd of supporters.
Amber Jamieson is a reporter for BuzzFeed News and is based in New York.
Sarah McBride becomes first transgender state senator in U.S. history
A record number of LGBTQ+ community members ran for office in 2020.
Sarah McBride attends "Out in Office" panel at Tribeca Celebrates Pride Day at 2019 Tribeca Film Festival at Spring Studio on May 4, 2019 in New York City. Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images for Tribeca Film Festival
Story at a glance
Sarah McBride won a state senate seat in Delaware, making her the highest-ranking transgender official in the U.S.
All states except for Alabama saw LGBTQ+ candidates run for office in 2020.
Democrat Sarah McBride made history on Election Day by becoming the first openly transgender state senator to be elected in U.S. history following her win in Delaware on Tuesday night.
Politico reports that McBride, formerly the national press secretary of the Human Rights Campaign, will represent the 1st state Senate District from Delaware. She will now become the highest-ranking transgender official in the U.S.
McBride was part of a surge of LGBTQ+ candidates running for office in the 2020 election cycle, with the LGBTQ Victory Fund counting 1,006 openly LGBTQ+ community members campaigning for office. This is a 41 percent increase in LGBTQ+ candidates from 2018, with the number of genderqueer or gender non-binary candidates jumping to 25 candidates in 2020 from six in 2018.
Other openly transgender U.S. state legislators include Virginia Delegate Danica Roem (D); Colorado Rep. Brianna Titone (D); and New Hampshire state Reps. Lisa Bunker and Gerri Cannon.
Across all 50 states, only Alabama remains as the single state with no known openly LGBTQ+ candidates in a 2020 race.
Texas, Florida, and California saw the biggest number of LGBTQ+ community members run for office.
McBride campaigned on Democratic stances like affordable health care and criminal justice reform.
Prominent Delaware political figures expressed support for McBride during her campaign, including Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, Sen. Chris Coons (D), and Rep. Lisa Rochester (D).
Alphonso David, the president of the Human Rights Campaign issued a statement of congratulations for McBride, relating it to a larger victory for LGBTQ+ representation in government.
“Tonight, Sarah made history not just for herself but for our entire community,” David said. “She gives a voice to the marginalized as a representative and an advocate. This victory, the first of what I expect to be many in her career, shows that any person can achieve their dream, no matter their gender identity or sexual orientation.”
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Published on Nov 04, 2020
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