NEW CASTLE, Del. — Delaware state Sen. Sarah McBride won the Democratic primary for the state's lone U.S. House seat Tuesday, The Associated Press projected, putting her one step closer to becoming the first transgender member of Congress.
McBride, the country’s first transgender state senator, easily defeated Earl Cooper and Elias Weir, taking 80% support with more than 95% of the vote in.
She will be the favorite to win the general election to replace Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester, who is running for the Senate, in heavily Democratic Delaware in November.
"Alongside the immense amount of gratitude I feel tonight, I also feel the deep responsibility that comes with being your nominee for this seat," McBride said at her election night celebration in New Castle. "While tonight we celebrate our victory in the primary, we all know that our work is far from over, and we know what is at stake in this election. We know what is on the line with the MAGA extremists who are on our ballot here in November in Delaware. We know what happens if Donald Trump wins and Republicans get the full control of Congress. They will not hesitate one second to pass their Project 2025 agenda.
"Our rights and our freedoms, our dignity and our democracy are on the line in this election, but so, too, is the promise of tomorrow, because we aren’t just here because of what’s at risk," she added. "We are also here because of what is possible. ... Y’all, hope and joy are making a comeback in America."
McBride will take on Republican John Whalen III, a retired police officer and former owner of a construction company. Democrats have held the seat they’re vying for since 2010.
LGBTQ advocacy groups celebrated McBride’s win.
“Voters across the country are sick and tired of the divisive politics of the past — that’s why we’re seeing an increase in diverse, young candidates like Sarah McBride clearing their primaries," Annise Parker, the president and CEO of LGBTQ+ Victory Fund, which works to increase the number of LGBTQ elected officials, said in a statement Tuesday night. "Nobody is more qualified than Sarah to represent the values of Delaware in Congress. I look forward to celebrating Sarah’s election victory in November and seeing her get to work for her constituents in Washington.”
Kelley Robinson, the president of the Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest LGBTQ advocacy group, attended McBride's election night party in New Castle and said that she and HRC visited some of the polls with McBride on primary day and that "she knows her neighbors."
"They've known her since she was in third grade, some of them, and many of them — and this is the best thing, especially when you think about a state senator — they know her for her record and her work," Robinson said. "They know about the work she did on paid family leave. They know about the work she did on Medicaid expansion. This is really her doing what politicians should do, talking people about issues that matter to them and advocating for her community."
John Swanson, 66, a retired Newark-area doctor who voted for McBride and attended her election night party, said he met McBride because his 35-year-old son has autism and McBride was interested in hearing their story. He said McBride's breaking the "glass ceiling" in Congress for trans people would allow more to be elected in the future.
"I think she's a very fine legislator and a person, and I think that we have needs for adults with disability, and I think she would be very open to helping us with those issues," Swanson said.
McBride was elected in 2020 to represent Delaware’s 1st Senate District, which includes Claymont, Bellefonte and parts of Edgemoor and Wilmington. During her first term, she helped pass universal paid family and medical leave across the state.
Among the key priorities for her congressional run are expanding access to affordable health care, protecting reproductive rights and increasing the minimum wage.
McBride touts a long list of historic firsts. She initially made headlines in April 2012 when she came out as transgender in American University’s student newspaper at the end of her term as the Washington, D.C., school’s student body president.
The same year, she became the first out trans woman to work in the White House when she interned with the Obama administration, according to her campaign and her 2018 memoir, “Tomorrow Will Be Different: Love, Loss, and the Fight for Trans Equality.”
In 2013, she was instrumental in advocating for a Delaware bill that protects trans people from discrimination. Then-Gov. Jack Markell mentioned McBride by name when he signed the bill into law.
“She courageously stood before the General Assembly to describe her personal struggles with gender identity and communicate her desire to return home after her college graduation without fear,” he said at the time.
In 2016, McBride became the first trans person to speak at a major political convention when she gave a speech at the Democratic National Convention.
