“Our best days are ahead”: Trans congressional candidate Sarah McBride still believes in America

In June, 32-year-old Sarah McBride declared her candidacy for deep-blue Delaware’s at-large seat in the US House Representatives, virtually assuring her place in history as the first transgender person to be elected to the United States Congress.

McBride, a Democrat, currently represents Delaware’s 1st District as State Senator. She’s running to replace Representative Lisa Blunt Rochester, who recently declared a campaign for Senate.

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She said that her being transgender means she knows “what it’s like to feel like your government doesn’t have your back.”

McBride made national headlines in 2012 when she finished her term as president of the student government at American University in Washington DC with an eloquent message to the school community declaring she was transgender.

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In the interim, she became the first openly trans person to intern at the White House, worked with the Center for American Progress, helped pass Delaware’s gender-identity anti-discrimination legislation, was the first openly trans person to speak at a national political convention (the Democrats’ conclave in 2016 in Philadelphia), wrote a memoir, and served as the National Press Secretary for the Human Rights Campaign – all before she turned 30.

She’s currently the highest-ranking elected trans official in the United States.

In 2014, McBride married trans LGBTQ+ activist Andrew Cray, who died just days after their wedding from cancer.

Amid a hectic schedule following her campaign announcement on June 26, McBride was cheery when we spoke on Monday. It could have been the coffee, for which she declared her love in the video announcing her candidacy.  

I’m excited to share that I'm running for Congress!

In Delaware, we’ve proven that small states can do BIG things. It’s time to do it again.