NEW CASTLE, Del. – Sen. Sarah McBride of Delaware won the Democratic primary for the U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday, moving her one step closer to becoming the first transgender member of Congress, according to the Associated Press.
McBride, the the nation’s first transgender state senatoreasily defeating his opponents Earl Cooper and Elias Weir, he won 82% of the vote with 28% of the vote.
He will be the favorite to win the general election this November to replace Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester, who is running for U.S. Senate in the heavily Democratic state of Delaware.
LGBTQ advocacy groups also celebrated McBride’s victory.
“Voters across the country are sick and tired of the divisive politics of the past — that’s why we’re seeing diverse, young candidates like Sarah McBride sweep the primaries,” Annise Parker, president and CEO of the LGBTQ+ Victory Fund, which seeks to increase the number of LGBTQ elected officials, said in a statement Tuesday night. , “No one is better qualified to represent Delaware’s values in Congress than Sarah. I look forward to celebrating Sarah’s election victory in November and to her work for her constituents in Washington.”
McBride was elected in 2020 to represent Delaware’s 1st Senate District, which includes parts of Claymont, Bellefonte and Edgemoor and Wilmington. In his first term, he helped pass universal paid family and medical leave throughout the state.
between his top priorities for congressional elections expands access to affordable health care, protects reproductive rights, and raises the minimum wage.
McBride provides a long list of historical firsts. She first made headlines in April 2012 when she came out as transgender in the American University student newspaper in Washington, D.C., at the end of her tenure as the school’s student body president.
That same year, she became the first trans woman to serve in the White House while interning with the Obama administration, according to her campaign and her 2018 memoir Tomorrow Will Be Different: Love, Loss, and the Fight for Trans Equality.
In 2013, she was instrumental in defending a Delaware bill protecting transgender people from discrimination. Then – Gov. Jack Markell McBride mentioned when he signed the bill.
“She bravely stood before the General Assembly to describe her personal struggle with gender identity and express her desire to return home without fear after graduating from college,” she said.
McBride in 2016 became the first trans person to speak while speaking at a major political convention, the Democratic National Convention.