The Democratic transgender activist Sarah McBride has won the election for the US Senate, which runs concurrently with the presidential election in Delaware state. This is the first time that a person who has changed sex will enter the upper house of the American parliament. McBride, 30, said she hopes her success will inspire young people of all genders and races to participate actively in US politics.
“I am incredibly grateful to my constituents and I promise to serve diligently for their benefit. I hope that somewhere in America there are young people who will find my message. That we are all part of this world and this country, and that in our democracy there is a place for everyone, and that their voices are meaningful McBride said after the announcement of the vote (quoted from the New York Times).
The woman defeated her Republican rival, 56-year-old Steve Washington, in Delaware. In the district where McBride and Washington competed, 58.6% of the population is registered as Democratic voters and 19% Republicans, according to Delaware Online.
During the Barack Obama administration, McBride trained at the White House and then lobbied in the Delaware General Assembly for a transgender rights bill that was signed into law in 2013. In 2016, she became the first transgender person to speak at the Democratic National Convention.
Concurrently with the US presidential elections in 2020, elections to the US House of Representatives and the US Senate (lower and upper houses of parliament) are being held. According to the latest data from Fox News, out of 100 seats in the Senate, Democrats and Republicans are still getting 47. In the elections to the House of Representatives, so far the Blue Democrats are winning, with 188 seats against 181 for the Reds (435 in total).
