Sarah McBride, who is expected to become the first openly trans person elected to Congress in November, told LGBTQ+ delegates to the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday, August 21 that her candidacy marked a milestone for trans representation.
McBride, a candidate for Delaware’s US House seat, said she was running not only to “make history with an election, but to make historic change on all the issues that matter.”
Just as Vice President Kamala Harris’ election to the presidency would show “a young Black girl and a young South Asian girl that she can have dreams that reach for the stars,” McBride’s election would send a similar message to trans people, she said.
“We can show a young trans person that no matter what extremists say or do, that here in America, they belong,” she said. “They belong in our schools, they belong in our communities, and yes, they even belong in the halls of Congress.”
She also marvelled at how unlikely her candidacy may have been considered in the recent past.
“If you could have told my 10-year-old self that there’d be a room full of amazing Democrats chanting my chosen name, I never would have believed it,” McBride, 34, said after taking the stage to a standing ovation.
McBride pledged to advance LGBTQ+ rights in Congress, but also to work toward other issues, including making health care and child care more affordable and protecting reproductive rights.
