Sarah McBride Talks About Having ‘A Seat At The Desk’ As The First Trans State Senator In U.S. Historical past

Sarah McBride is the first trans state senator in U.S. history.

Sarah McBride

Sarah McBride is still weeks away from being sworn in to represent the First State Senate District in Delaware, but she’s already hard at work for her constituents. 

McBride is fielding pothole requests in the district that encompasses Claymont (yes— the same place the incoming president, Joe Biden, grew up,) Bellefonte, and parts of Wilmington, Delaware. She is also creating a plan to address some of the issues she focused on during her campaign: healthcare, paid family medical leave, re-imagining the criminal justice system, repairing the economy, and building quality public schools for every child, regardless of zip code. 

While McBride focuses on the issues that helped get her elected with almost 75% of the vote, she’s also quick to embrace the barriers she has broken. The 30-year-old who now represents the districts she grew up in also happens to be the first transgender person in the country to be elected to any state senate. 

This makes Sarah McBride America’s highest-ranking openly transgender elected official.

And although she’s already had to counter offensive questions with quick-witted responses, McBride has been overwhelmingly welcomed in the district where she’s worked in politics since she was a teenager. 

Trying To “Make The Most Amount Of Good” 

McBride grew up the youngest of three children, with two older brothers. According to Sean McBride, her oldest brother, the McBride family has a deep and abiding love of politics, and from a young age, his sister was enamored with it. Sean reminisced about Sarah’s infatuation with elections as a kid.

“She was obsessed with politics, political culture, and specifically with the White House,” Sean laughed.

“I remember, she had a ton of books about— not just the occupants of the White House, but the building itself. She took a real interest in things like the layout of the White House and the history of architecture, which is, you know, that’s atypical for a nine or 10-year-old.”

When Sarah was around 12, she went from reading about politics to being actively involved. She began volunteering on political campaigns, including for the former governor of Delaware, Jack Markell. As a field organizer for Markell’s campaign, she knocked on doors, recruited volunteers, and talked to neighbors about supporting the state treasurer, who at the time was running to be the Democratic gubernatorial nominee in the state.

Markell said McBride even recruited around 60 students to support his campaign. He became so impressed by her, specifically her public speaking abilities, he asked her to come with him around the state and introduce him at campaign events. 

“I probably would not have won without her,” said Markell, who became McBrides’s most significant mentor and friend.

When she was 15, McBride had her first political internship with none other than Beau Biden, late son of Joe Biden, when he was campaigning for Delaware Attorney General. McBride recalled part of why she immersed herself in politics instead of participating in typical pre-teen shenanigans. 

“I think a big reason for that was that I, at a young age, I knew who I was, but also knew very definitively that there wasn’t much space for someone like me, in our society,” McBride said.

“And politics and government and advocacy seemed like a place where I could try to make the most amount of good for the most number of people in the most number of ways possible.”

As far back as she can remember, McBride says she knew she was different. But it wasn’t until she was 10, watching the sitcom NBC’s Just Shoot Me with her mom, when she realized there were other people in the world like her. The sitcom had a guest character, played by Jenny McCarthy, who is eventually revealed as transgender. As McBride puts it, whenever someone expressed interest in McCarthy’s character on the show, the punchline was that they didn’t know she was trans, and the laugh track would cue.

McBride reminisced how she turned to her mother and asked whether people like McCarthy’s character existed in the world. When her mother replied yes, she said, her heart sank. 

“I thought, ‘Oh, my God, I’m going to have to tell you this someday, and you are going to be so disappointed,” McBride said. “And what could have been a life-affirming moment of finding out that there were other people like me, and that I wasn’t alone in this world, was really in many ways soul-crushing, because at 10-years-old, you don’t know a lot, but you know, you don’t want to be a joke.”

“And every time that laugh track would cue, I knew, or at least I thought I knew, that there wouldn’t be a place for me in this world. And even if I couldn’t personally benefit… I think I got involved in politics because I thought if I could help others in their pursuit of authenticity and happiness, that it would somehow fill the incompleteness and the pain in my own life.”

Along the way, though, she found herself. McBride’s most prominent supporters, her family, couldn’t be prouder – especially her big brother, Sean.

“I remember being a kid and handing out leaflets, canvassing for Harris McDowell, the senator who represented the district, I think for my entire life,” Sean said. “It would have been beyond belief, the idea that my youngest sister, my only sister, ten years younger than me, would replace him.”

“If you told me that when I was 16- or 17 years old, canvassing for Harris McDowell, I would have been shocked.”

‘Coming Out’ And Jack Markell 

When Sarah McBride arrived at American University in Washington D.C., she dived right into campus politics and advocacy, and was eventually elected student body president. She helped restart a school scholarship program that had gone dormant, successfully advocated for gender-inclusive housing at the university, helped create an LGBTQ minor, and pushed for reforms to improve accessibility on campus, among  other accomplishments. 

But even with how busy she kept herself through her studies and student government work, there was still something missing. 

“As professionally fulfilling as it was, it didn’t heal the pain,” McBride said. “It only emphasized that I was living my life as someone I wasn’t.”

During her term as student body president, McBride came out as transgender to her family, campus, and faith community. At that moment, McBride said, she prepared herself for backlash, and for the stigma to potentially corrode her friendships, and even her potential career in government. News spread not only through campus but also through Delaware’s political circles, as McBride had accrued much influence in her very public role as a young youth advocate. 

There was one person she wanted to tell the news to personally, though — her mentor— Delaware Gov. Jack Markell. She remembers the day vividly. McBride reached out to one of Markell’s senior advisors.

“The governor was in New York on Morning Joe, I remember, and I called his senior advisor, and said I was hoping to talk to the governor and told him why,” McBride said. 

Around three hours later, McBride was taking the elevator up to her college apartment when she received a call. It was Markell.

“I pick up, and he goes, ‘Well, that’s big news,'” McBride said. “I went through a very abbreviated, rapid version of what I was experiencing and told him that I didn’t want to take too much of his time. And he just said, ‘You know, slow down, let’s talk.’ 

McBride said she and the governor spoke for around 45 minutes in a conversation where he made clear he loved and supported her. A few minutes later, Markell’s wife called McBride to express support too, and then they both called McBride’s parents. 

“I remember my mother was so scared when I came out, I’ve never seen her cry that hard,” McBride said. “To have the governor of the state and the First Lady reach out and say, ‘This doesn’t change anything. We love you. And we’re there for Sarah and are there for you.'”

“My mother was in a mall and fell to the floor and started crying.”

McBride said every two weeks, Markell would call and check on her. 

“There’s no one in politics who has supported me and mentored me more than Jack Markell. He is a generous and compassionate person,” McBride said. 

The Gender Identity Non-Discrimination Bill

A few weeks after coming out, McBride recalls Markell and his son visiting her in D.C. Markell’s son was looking at colleges, and American University was on the list. After a tour, the three sat down for coffee, when Markell asked McBride whether she wanted to return to Delaware after graduation. 

“I said, ‘I do, governor, but I’m scared to come back because there are no non-discrimination protections for transgender people,” McBride said.

“He [Governor Markell] sat back in his chair, and he said, ‘Let’s fix that.’

Sarah McBride advocates for the gender identity non-discrimination bill.

Sarah McBride

From that moment on, McBride said she effectively became “the 63rd member of the Delaware General Assembly.” She camped out at legislative hall, day in and day out, advocating for the gender identity non-discrimination bill.

“When you are walking the halls with a person impacted by an issue, when you’re sitting across an office, or a conference room table, from a person impacted by an issue, the political becomes personal, and the abstract, becomes real,” she said.

“And it’s difficult to look someone in the eye and deny them the equal protection of the laws, or deprioritize their rights.”

Markell said his philosophy was always to provide everyone—regardless of gender identity, etc.— equal protections under the law. Besides that, he said it’s the right thing to do; it would help Delaware thrive from an economic standpoint. He said he believes McBride humanized the issue for members of the legislature and members of the public.

Sarah McBride spent months at Delaware’s legislative hall advocating for the gender identity … [+] non-discrimination bill.

Sarah McBride

“Her coming down to testify, her coming down along with her parents, who are just extraordinary people, to meet individually with legislators or to stand on the floor of the House or the Senate, and frankly, in some cases, to have abuse hurled at them. But to be so strong was absolutely critical to getting the legislation through,” Markell said. 

 Within a year, Markell signed the Gender Identity Non-Discrimination bill into law.

The Delaware State Senate/The LGBTQ Community  

McBride wasn’t sure she’d ever run for office. It’s not that she didn’t want to; it had more to do with the difficulty of “being what you can’t see.” There were no transgender state senators for her to emulate. As she climbed the ladder, she figured she’d find a role elsewhere. 

McBride found advocacy work fulfilling. From 2016 until her election this year, she worked as a spokesperson for The Human Rights Campaign, the largest LGBTQ advocacy group and political lobbying organization in the U.S. At the 2016 Democratic National Convention, she made history as the first openly transgender person to speak at a major party convention. 

Sarah McBride launched her campaign in 2019, after years spent working in advocacy for The Human … [+] Rights Campaign.

Sarah McBride

She was a successful advocate, but knew more might be accomplished by having a ‘seat at the table.’ She also had ideas and a vision for the district she called home for three decades. In 2019, she decided to run for Delaware State Senate. 

Campaigning during the age of Covid wasn’t easy; her team of supporters and volunteers went from knocking on doors to sending texts, phone calls, and writing postcards. It didn’t take long for McBride to realize how accepting the voters of Delaware’s first senate district are. In the primary, she defeated fellow Democrat Joseph McCole with a whopping 91 percent of the vote. 

“Those results reflect the fair-mindedness of the voters in the First Senate District who judge candidates based on their ideas and experience, not on their identities,” McBride said. 

McBride would go on to win, making history. Soon after, advocacy groups such as The Human Rights Campaign, McBride’s previous employer, and The LGBTQ Victory Fund, an American political action committee dedicated to increasing the number of openly LGBTQ public officials in the U.S., reacted with excitement. 

“One of the reasons the Victory Fund works to elect people is because representation matters. Ever since Danica Roam [a transgender woman in the Virginia House of Delegates] won in 2017, we’ve seen so many trans candidates inspired to step up and run for office,” said Sean Meloy, the senior political director at the Victory Fund.

“Sarah is the latest to inspire and give hope to a whole slew of people across the country.”

According to Meloy, there is a tremendous deficit in the elected office of people within the LGBTQ community. He said roughly 5% of adults identify as LGBTQ in the U.S. However, they only represent approximately .1% of roughly 500,000 elected positions. 

Meloy and The Victory Fund say that for LGBTQ people to achieve “equitable representation,” there would need to be more than 22,000 lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people elected to office.

Lucas Acosta, the Deputy Communications Director for Politics for the Human Rights Campaign, believes McBride’s election will spark more LGBTQ people to run for office.

“Sarah is the first trans person to be in the state senate, and the next step for the community, specifically with the trans community, is getting elected as a member of Congress, and I think that that is 100% doable,” Acosta said.

Sarah McBride was elected to the Delaware State Senate with almost 75% of the vote,

Sarah McBride

McBride emphasized she didn’t run to merely be a transgender state senator or to focus on trans rights; her focus is on all the residents in the first senate district, regardless of their identity or background. She says she didn’t want to make headlines or news, but wants to make a difference in her community. She did emphasize, though, that she will work to ensure she is not the last transgender person to be elected to political office. 

“To be a first doesn’t matter if you’re the last, and the best way to ensure that I’m not the last is to be entirely focused on the nuts and bolts of the job that I have in front of me,” McBride said. 

“I know how much of a difference it would have made for me as a young person to have seen this news, and my hope is that whether you’re LGBTQ or not, you see this result and you recognize that you can live your truth, whatever that is, and dream big dreams all at the same time.”

Andy

Sarah McBride says her late husband, Andy, immensely influenced her political career.

Sarah McBride

There have been many formative parts of McBride’s life, including her journey as a trans person and her political experiences as a young person. But when asked what influenced her journey the most, she said… Andy. 

Andy was McBride’s late husband, whom she met while interning at the White House under President Barack Obama. Andy was a transgender man; they met at the White House Pride reception in 2012.

“He reached out to me a couple of weeks later, with a Facebook message where he said he thought we’d get along swimmingly. And he asked me out. Typically, I wouldn’t respond to a Facebook message like that. But I knew we had a bunch of mutual friends. And I thought, anyone my age who says the word swimmingly is good in my book,” McBride laughed.

They started dating almost immediately. McBride said Andy worked as an advocate in healthcare, trying to ensure the Affordable Care Act was implemented in a way that provided quality services and affordable healthcare to marginalized communities, specifically the LGBTQ community. 

And then, a year into their relationship, Andy was diagnosed with cancer. 

McBride served as Andy’s caregiver throughout his battle with cancer; he underwent chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery and eventually got a clean bill of health. And then, eight months later, after his final chemotherapy and radiation session, he got the news every cancer patient fears: it was back, it had spread to his lungs and it was terminal. 

When Andy found out the news, McBride says, he asked her to marry him. They got married three weeks after his terminal diagnosis. He died four days after their wedding.

Sarah McBride and Andy got married three weeks after his terminal cancer diagnosis.

Sarah McBride

“When we ask people to sit back and allow for slow conversations to take place before we ensure them opportunity and treat them with dignity, we are asking people to watch their one life pass by without the fairness and opportunity they deserve,” McBride said. 

“I saw that in Andy’s life as a transgender man, who had come out at a relatively young age and who should have had three-quarters of his life as his authentic self, but because of circumstances outside of his control, he had less than a quarter.”

“I left that experience with a profound sense of the urgency of the issues we face, and the preciousness of time.”

The Future

As McBride looks to the future, she has many things on her mind, including the Covid-19 pandemic. She’s focused on ensuring Delaware continues to face the crisis in a data-driven, responsible way. She encourages the legislature to empower a data- and science-driven approach in its response. She wants to ensure the economy is preserved, while the Covid-19 recovery plan helps all families; she also advocates for paid family and medical leave.

While she works on the issues at hand, she continues to receive messages about her historic win. The ones that mean the most are from transgender children and their families. 

She thinks about them while she approaches her work and while reflecting on how far she’s come. 

“I’ll never forget, years ago, standing on the floor of the Delaware State Senate with tears in my eyes, with my parents by my side, telling my story and effectively pleading for my rights,” McBride said. 

“I was looking out on a chamber that didn’t include anyone like me. Now, seven years later, to have the opportunity to stand on that same floor as the newly elected state senator for the district that has always meant so much to me, as my authentic self, now fighting for dignity and opportunity for every single Delawarean, is an incredible journey to reflect on.”