Sarah McBride on course to become first trans person in US congress
In January Sarah McBride will become the first trans person in US congress. (Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)
Sarah McBride is on course to become the first trans person in US congress, after her only opponent in Delaware’s Democratic primary dropped out.
McBride, who made history in 2020 as the first ever trans state senator, is attempting to make a bid for US congress in Delaware ahead of November’s election.
Eugene Young, who was also running for the Democratic nomination, announced on Wednesday (12 June) that he was suspending his campaign. According to Delaware radio station WHYY, Young did not give a reason for dropping out of the race.
As McBride is now the only Democrat running for congress, and given Delaware is a heavily Democratic state, it is looking highly likely that she will make history as the first trans person in US congress. At 33 years of age, she would also be the youngest person to represent Delaware since Joe Biden, who was 30 when he became a senator in 1973.
McBride, who was a White House intern when Barack Obama was president, before going on to work at the LGBTQ+ advocacy group Human Rights Campaign, launched her bid for congress in June 2023.
If Sarah McBride is elected to the US congress in November, she will replace Lisa Blunt Rochester, who endorsed McBride shortly after Young dropped out of the campaign.
Blunt Rochester said in a statement: “Sarah led the effort to pass paid family and medical leave, helped raise the minimum wage, and passed common sense gun safety laws.
“As Delaware’s congresswoman, I know what it takes to deliver for our state and that Sarah will hit the ground running as our state’s lone member of the US House.”
Annise Parker, president and CEO of LGBTQ+ Victory Fund, added that the LGBTQ+ community in Delaware is “fortunate to have an incredible trans leader” like McBride.
“Hundreds of thousands of Delawareans will vote for Sarah in September and November, not because she’s trans, but because she’s been an effective, well-respected leader in the state for years,” Parker added.
As a state senator, McBride has consistently stood up for trans rights during her tenure, in 2020 explaining the “perpetual fear” trans people feel while navigating the US healthcare system.
In an interview with gynaecologist Dr Danielle Jones, known on her YouTube channel as Mama Doctor Jones, McBride explained: “Navigating the healthcare system, navigating particularly serious illness, is overwhelming, period.
“But then to throw on top of that the fear of discrimination that might lurk around any corner, that gets in the way of a patient being able to really focus on the job ahead of them of trying to get well and taking care of their health… That fear is real and it has a tangible impact on our actual physical outcomes.”
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