This Delaware lawmaker is hoping to become first openly transgender House member

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Delaware State Senator Sarah McBride (D) announced that she would run for the state's U.S. House seat next year. If she is successful, the win will make her the first openly transgender member of the U.S. Congress.

Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.) currently holds the seat, but she announced that she plans to put in her bid for the Senate seat vacated by Sen. Tom Carper (D) after he retires. Both elections are set to take place next year.

McBride is "no stranger to firsts," The New York Times noted, as she became the first openly transgender White House employee as an intern in former President Barack Obama's administration in 2012. She secured her state Senate seat with over 70 percent of the general election vote in 2020, making her the first openly transgender lawmaker in that position nationally. She ran unopposed for a second term last year. She is also the former national press secretary for the Human Rights Campaign, a prominent LGBTQ+ advocacy organization in the U.S.

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"It's clear that diversity in government is necessary for us to not just ensure we have a healthy democracy but also to truly deliver for people," she told The News Journal in an interview. Though she acknowledges that her win would mark a historic first, "ultimately, I'm not running to be a trans member of Congress," she said.

McBride "is likely to face a primary challenge in her solidly blue district," the Times added. However, she holds "ample political capital in the state" due to her relationship with President Biden. The president wrote the foreword for her 2018 memoir, and she also worked on the attorney general campaigns for his late son Beau Biden, who died in 2015.

Theara Coleman has worked as a staff writer at The Week since September 2022. She frequently writes about technology, education, literature and general news. She was previously a contributing writer and assistant editor at Honeysuckle Magazine, where she covered racial politics and cannabis industry news.