First Transgender Congresswoman: Sarah McBride’s Historic Run in the Hot Seat

Democrat Sarah McBride is expected to make history next week as the first openly transgender person elected to the U.S. Congress.

She is no stranger to making history: In 2016 she became the first openly transgender person to address a major U.S. political convention and in 2020 became the first to serve in a U.S. state Senate.

McBride, 34, is favored to win Delaware's sole seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, after securing the Democratic nomination in a competitive September primary and is expected to easily win a seat that the three major U.S. nonpartisan political rating services rate solidly Democratic.

"The fact that the candidacy of someone like me is even possible... is a testament to Delawareans," McBride said in a Saturday interview.

However, she sought to play down the history-making nature of her nomination and expected election.

"People have seen that I have a track record of rolling up my sleeves, digging into the details, bringing Democrats and Republicans together," she said.

"That's what I've been campaigning on. I'm not running on my identity."

Transgender rights have become a political flashpoint in the U.S. Lawmakers in 37 U.S. states introduced at least 142 bills to restrict gender-affirming healthcare for trans and gender-expansive people in 2023, Reuters reported, nearly three times as many as the previous year. In Congress, Republicans have pushed anti-trans bills at the national level for years.

McBride is not worried about working with people who oppose transgender rights in Congress, saying she will focus on members open to bipartisanship, even if they do not fully agree with her values.

"If democracy is going to work, we have to be able to have conversations across disagreement," she said.

"There is a responsibility that comes with being first, but (that) doesn't matter if I don't fulfill the responsibility of just being the best member of Congress that I can be for Delaware."