Sarah McBride, 32, launches bid to be the first transgender member of Congress

A 32-year-old progressive activist-turned-politician is officially looking to become he first-ever transgender member of Congress in Delaware. 

State senator Sarah McBride launched her bid for the seat that will be vacated by Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester, D-Del., as Rochester runs for the Senate to succeed retiring Democrat Sen. Tom Carper. 

‘Too many politicians want to divide us – tell us that teachers, doctors, even our neighbors are the enemy. blocking out the noise and focusing on what actually matters isn’t easy,’ McBride said in a campaign launch video. 

‘My commitment is to the people in Delaware who aren’t seen, who don’t shout the loudest or fund political campaigns: parents busy raising their children, seniors worried about paying for prescription drugs, working people struggling to keep up,’ she said as she touted her efforts in the Delaware state legislature to secure paid family and medical leave.  

A 32-year-old progressive activist-turned-politician is officially looking to become he first-ever transgender member of Congress in Delaware

State senator Sarah McBride launched her bid for the seat that will be vacated by Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester, D-Del., as Rochester runs for the Senate to succeed retiring Democrat Sen. Tom Carper

The primary is expected to draw other candidates but if McBride were to win it would be the latest in a string of firsts for her – she was the first trans person in the White House as an intern for President Obama in 2012 and the first to speak at the Democratic National Convention in 2016. 

In 2020, she became the first trans state senator. 

McBride, who formerly worked at LGBTQ advocacy group Human Rights Campaign, worked to have gender identity and sexual orientation added to as a Delaware constitutional amendment.

McBride also has close ties to President Biden and his Delaware-based family: Biden wrote the forward to her 2018 memoir on transgender equality, ‘Tomorrow Will Be Different.’ She worked on late son Beau Biden’s attorney general campaign. 

‘Too many politicians want to divide us – tell us that teachers, doctors, even our neighbors are the enemy. blocking out the noise and focusing on what actually matters isn’t easy,’ McBride said in a campaign launch video

Delaware State Senator Sarah McBride attends Dylan Mulvaney’s Day 365 Live! at The Rainbow Room on March 13, 2023 in New York City

‘I am certainly cognizant of the uniqueness of my candidacy, of the uniqueness that my voice would bring to the halls of Congress, but ultimately, I’m not running to be a trans member of Congress,’ the candidate told Delaware Online. ‘I’m running to be Delaware’s member of Congress who’s focused on making progress on all of the issues that matter to Delawareans of every background.’

Her candidacy comes as transgender issues have been launched into the forefront of the nation’s culture wars as Republican-led states seek to block transgender participation in women’s sports and gender transition care for minors. 

‘In 2020, I became the first openly trans person elected to serve as a State Senator anywhere in the country. It really felt like America was blazing a path to the future. But since then, the far-right has tried to use the LGBTQ community as a scapegoat for their policy failures,’ McBride wrote on Twitter. ‘As they’ve increased their attacks on families and kids, it has become even clearer: for our democracy to work, it needs to include all of us. If elected, I’ll be the first openly trans member in Congress.’