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Barbara Sprunt, NPR

Sarah McBride becomes the first openly transgender person elected to Congress

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Sarah McBride on the campaign trail in March.
Sarah McBride on the campaign trail in March.
Kent Nishimura/Getty Images

This story originally appeared as part of NPR's live coverage of the 2024 election. For more election coverage from the NPR Network head to our live updates page.

Delaware State Sen. Sarah McBride is once again making history — she will be the first openly transgender person to serve in the U.S. Congress.

McBride will succeed fellow Democrat Lisa Blunt Rochester as the state’s at-large member of Congress. Blunt Rochester handily won her race for Senate earlier on Tuesday night.

McBride has been a rising star in politics. She previously worked for former Delaware Gov. Jack Markell and the late Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden. In 2012, she interned with the Obama administration. Four years later, she became the first transgender person to speak at a major party convention.

She won her state Senate seat in 2020 with more than 70 percent of the vote.

McBride told NPR in June that during her tenure in state politics, she’s seen firsthand the impact of representation.

“It's much harder to hate up close,” she said. “I've seen the power of those interpersonal relationships that you have when you are present as a peer and as a colleague — I've seen them transform people's approach, people's minds, people's hearts in Delaware. I know it might be a taller order in Washington, but I know it's possible.”

McBride has championed the issues of reproductive freedom, policies that guarantee paid leave and affordable child care, health care and housing.

She’s previously said of her history-making bid that she hopes ultimately, people will think of the policies she’s achieved before they think of her identity.

“I think that is the best way to guarantee that while I may be a first, that I'm not the last, and that we build a world where it's no longer noteworthy when a trans candidate runs and wins,” she said.

Copyright 2024, NPR