A prominent transgender advocate announced Tuesday she is running to represent Delaware’s Senate District 1, hoping to replace retiring incumbent Harris McDowell in 2020.
Sarah McBride made history in 2016 as the first trans person to address a major party convention, when she spoke at the Democratic National Convention on behalf of transgender rights.
“I’ve spent my life fighting for people to have dignity, peace of mind, and a fair shot at staying afloat and getting ahead,” McBride said in a statement. “Sen. McDowell’s retirement at the end of this term is a well-deserved cap on a remarkable career of public service, and now our neighbors need someone who will continue to fight for them.”
She added that she has also made history being the only trans woman to work in the White House “in any capacity,” having interned in the Obama White House.
Delaware’s Senate District 1 covers parts of Wilmington, the state’s largest city, as well as Bellefonte and Claymont.
“[B]ehind this debate on trans equality, there are real people who are seeking dignity and fairness throughout their lives,” McBride said in her address to the DNC. “There are real people who are seeking dignity and fairness throughout their lives, people who hurt when we are ridiculed and mocked and discriminated against, people who are facing violence.”
If elected, McBride would join only a handful of transgender people elected to state legislature, including Danica Roem, a Virginia Democrat in the House of Delegates.
