McBride, 34, won Delaware’s congressional seat in the Nov. 5, 2024, general election against Republican candidate John Whalen III, a former state police officer and businessman. This House seat, Delaware’s only one, has been Democratic since 2010.
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This is a new political victory for Sarah McBride who already has a substantial political career behind her. She had become the first openly transgender person elected to a state Senate seat in 2020, after becoming a Democratic member of the Delaware Senate. McBride was also the first transgender person to intern at the White House in 2012, under the administration of Barack Obama, recalls the American press. She then spoke at the 2016 Democratic National Convention, becoming the first transgender person to deliver a speech at the major political event.
In the primary in September, Sarah McBride defeated three other Democratic candidates. During the election campaign, she received support from heavyweights in American politics, starting with President Joe Biden himself, a Delaware native and longtime friend of McBride. He publicly congratulated her after her victory in the September primary. Lisa Blunt Rochester, an incumbent Rep. from Delaware, also endorsed McBride before the primary race. McBride raced well ahead of Republican Whalen on the campaign trail, at one point leading by more than 20 percentage points in the polls.
A very early interest in politics
McBride, born in Wilmington, Delaware, reportedly protested his interest in politics very early, according to those close to him. She had supported the campaign of Handsome Bidenson of President Biden who died of a brain tumor in 2015, for re-election as attorney general of Delaware.
It was in 2011, at the age of 21, that McBride came out as a trans woman in her university’s student newspaper and in a viral Facebook post. Since then, she has worked on gender issues, in the defense of LGBTQ+ rights, but also, in general, on issues of discrimination. His state, Delaware, thus offered protection to trans people. She later served as national press secretary for the Human Rights Campaign, an LGBTQ+ rights group. McBride also taught public policy at the University of Delaware and wrote a 2018 memoir called Tomorrow Will Be Different, as noted in his State Senate biography.
Throughout his campaign, McBride acknowledged the historic nature of his candidacy, but said his campaign was focused on other critical issues. “I think people know that I am personally invested in equality as an LGBTQ person,” McBride told CBS. “ But my priorities will be affordable child care, paid family and medical leave, housing, health care, reproductive freedom. »
LGBTQ+ rights, one of the main themes of this campaign
In 2024, 661 bills targeting transgender people were considered, up from 604 the previous year, according to data from Trans Legislation Tracker, an independent research organization that tracks anti-trans bills. And their rights were, with abortion, the rights of migrants and even the carrying of weapons, were at the heart of this very polarized electoral campaign.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has made false anti-trans allegations. His campaign and other Republican groups have spent more than $21 million on anti-trans and anti-LGBTQ+ television ads, ABC News reported. Since August, Republicans have spent a total of $65 million on such ads in more than a dozen states, according to the New York Times.