- Sarah McBride has won Delaware’s at-large district seat
- She also became the first openly transgender person to serve as a state senator
- Entered politics to help create a more inclusive environment
Sarah McBride has become the first openly transgender person to be elected to the US House of Representatives.
Number of firsts
McBride was elected in Delaware’s at-large district seat. She beat Republican candidate John Whelan, taking more than 57% of the vote, according to figures from the Associated Press. The 24-year-old state senator was victorious in a competitive primary for the seat in September.
This is not the first time McBride has made history. In 2020, she became the first openly transgender person to serve as a state senator, after winning an election. Four years earlier, she was the first transgender person to speak at a US national political party convention.
McBride is a native of Wilmington in Delaware. She came out as trans in 2011, having known she was for years previously.
She entered politics in part to help create a more inclusive environment for transgender people. In 2012, she was an intern at the White House under the presidency of Barack Obama – again, a first for a transgender person.
Added responsibilities
However, McBride emphasised in an interview with Reuters before the US elections that she was focused on the issues that affect people in Delaware, rather than being a pioneer.
While she acknowledged that she had “added responsibilities” she said that “whatever you are first, you often have to try to be the best version that you can.”
McBride added that she wanted to be the best member of Congress for Delaware as she could be.
Elsewhere in the US elections, actor Paul Rudd – known for his roles in the Ant-Man films and in the most recent iteration of the Ghostbusters franchise – was spotted handing out water to students queuing to vote at Temple University in Pennsylvania yesterday. He said it was a “wonderful thing” that so many young people were voting.
