While many people on November 5, 2024 were focused on the extravagant presidential election, history was made in house elections. Sarah McBride, an activist and state senator from Delaware won the general election to become the first and only democratic Delawarean representative in the House of Representatives .
McBride has a past of making history. Born in Wilmington, Delaware, she came out to friends and family as transgender at 21. She was the first transgender individual to speak at the National Democratic Convention, to intern at the White House and to be elected to the state senate. Her record continues as she becomes the first openly transgender individual to be elected as a United States representative.
She got her first job in politics in 2006 when she worked on Beau Biden’s campaign for attorney general of Delaware. She also has experienced working for Delaware Governor Jack Marshall and under the Obama administration. McBride was elected as Delaware State Senator in 2021 and has used her position to expand access to health care, promote green technology and bring mental health and media literacy education in schools.
Outside of politics, she has an extensive past as an activist. She has advocated against gender-based discrimination, served as national for the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest LGBTQ equal rights organization, and also helped shape the Biden administration’s approach to LGBTQ rights.
However, her win has sparked controversy in a house that will be majority Republican in the upcoming term. An article published by Forbes covered a Republican representative from South Carolina, Nancy Mace, who introduced legislation to ban transgender people from using facilities like bathrooms and locker rooms on federal property. McBride’s win was confirmed on November 10, the ban was proposed on November 18.
While Mace’s bill didn’t mention McBride by name, she has been quoted saying the bill was proposed in response to McBride’s win. Speaker of the house Mike Johnson enacted the changes soon after, voicing his support for the bill. “I’m not here to fight about bathrooms. I’m here to fight for Delawareans and to bring down costs facing families,” McBride posted on X (formerly Twitter) on November 20. “Like all members, I will follow the rules as outlined by Speaker Johnson even if I disagree with them.” She went on to say how the change has only been a distraction from the real issue the country is facing and how her term will focus on making change, not history.
She is entering the house with mainly republican colleagues, a party that in the recent election was heavily influenced by anti-trans rhetoric. This is only one obstacle that McBride has faced on the road to the U.S. Capitol Hill, and she is aware there will be much more to greet her there.
“I know that’s going to be more difficult in D.C. than it has been in Dover, but I truly believe that when we give up on that openness to collaborate, we ultimately give up our ability to have a democracy.” Mcbride spoke with National Public Radio shortly after her win. Despite the drama, McBride is determined to take Capitol Hill head on.