Sarah McBride will be the first openly transgender member of Congress

Delaware State Senator Sarah McBride will be the first openly transgender person elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.

The Associated Press called her victory over Republican John Whalen III at 9:43 p.m. EST.

McBride, who defeated her Democratic primary opponents with 80 percent of the vote in September, won the state's only House seat. She will succeed fellow Democrat Lisa Blunt Rochester as a full member of Congress in Delaware.

In June 2023, McBride announced her bid to become the first trans member of Congress. “My commitment is to the people of Delaware who are not seen, who are not shouting the loudest or funding political campaigns – parents busy raising their children, seniors worried about paying for prescription drugs, working people, who are struggling to keep up,” McBride said in an announcement video at the time. “Everyone deserves a member of Congress who sees them and respects them.”

In 2012, McBride became the first transgender person to work in the White House when she began as an intern in the Obama administration and also spoke at the Democratic National Convention in 2016, becoming the first openly transgender person to speak at one major US party conference. “Four years ago, I came out as transgender while serving as student body president in college,” she said at the DNC at the time. “I was scared at the time. I worried that my dreams and my identity were mutually exclusive. However, since then I have seen that change is possible.”

Speaking to Reuters before her election, McBride said: “When you're first, you often have to try to be the best version you can.” She added that the role brings “additional responsibilities… But playing none of them a role if I don’t live up to the responsibility of simply being the best member of Congress I can be for Delaware.”