First trans congresswoman says Trump’s anti-LGBTQ+ ads aimed to ‘fear-monger’
Sarah McBride is the first out trans person to be elected to congress. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Sarah McBride, who made history last week by becoming the first out transgender person to be elected to the US congress, has said Donald Trump’s anti-trans ads were an attempt to “fear-monger and scapegoat”.
McBride, who also made history in 2020 as the first trans woman to be elected to a state senate, defeated Republican John Whalen in the elections on 5 November, to win Delaware’s at-large seat in the US house of representatives.
Having originally run for office to honour her husband, Andrew Cray, who died in 2014, McBride told MSNBC’s Chris Hayes that she didn’t think it was the adverts, which reportedly cost Republicans almost $215 million (£169 million), that swung the presidential election in Trump’s favour.
Ads aimed to ‘distract and divide’
“I think those ads were part of a long-term strategy by the far-right-wing in this country, which is to pick [on] a small and vulnerable misunderstood community to fear-monger and scapegoat around, in order to distract and divide from the fact that those politicians have absolutely no policy solutions for the issues that are actually keeping people up at night.
“When I was hearing from undecided voters, they felt the economy was better under Donald Trump and that we survived four years. Obviously, I disagree with that perspective but that seemed to be driving people.”
Ahead of the result of the election, the executive director of LGBTQ+ organisation Outright International, Maria Sjödin, warned that Trump’s anti-trans attacks would have a “lasting” effect on whoever won.
Share your thoughts! Let us know in the comments below, and remember to keep the conversation respectful.
How did this story make you feel?
