Sarah McBride could become the first trans person elected to Congress. It's about time.

Transgenderpeople have been used as fodder for the culture wars. Hundreds of bills have been filed around the country to undermine their existence. Dozens of these anti-trans bills have even become law, simply because Republicans realize that it’s a way to fire up the base.

Delaware Sen. Sarah McBride isn’t convinced this is a winning argument. 

“The obsession we are seeing (from) far-right politicians does not resonate with voters,” McBride told me. “It is out of touch with what is actually keeping people up at night, is out of touch with the needs of working people and their families in this country.”

McBride is running for Delaware’s at-large U.S. House district. If she wins, she could be the first trans member of Congress.

It's looking likely, too – McBride is running unopposed in the Democratic primary after Eugene Young, the former director of State Housing Authority, dropped out of the race in mid-June. McBride faces Republican Donyale Hall in November.

At a time when transgender people have countless voices speaking for and against them, having actual political power is overdue.

“The reality is that you can't craft effective solutions for a diverse country or a diverse workforce or a diverse economy if you don't have the full diversity of that country, that workforce, that economy at the table,” McBride said.

I hope Republicans see her rise to political fame as the writing on the wall that trans people aren't just pawns for legislation, and I hope, for McBride, that she can be just another politician on Capitol Hill. But she has to win first.

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A born-and-raised Delawarean

McBride has represented the district she was raised in since 2021, but she's no stranger to Democratic politics. This includes working for former Delaware Gov. Jack Markell and the late Attorney General Beau Biden, President Joe Biden's son, whom she considers personal political heroes.

"(I) had the opportunity to travel up and down the state with them and fall more deeply in love with the state that I was born and raised in, that helped shape me into the person that I am," McBride said.

During this time, she realized she was living in the closet.

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McBride came out as transgender in 2012 after serving as student body president of American University. She has been involved in LGBTQ+ political activism ever since, including as a former national press secretary for the Human Rights Campaign. The organization endorsed McBride last year.

"I know that the only way for me to do right by the LGBTQ community is for me to simply be the best member of Congress that I can be," she said, "and that means continuing to do what I've done in the Delaware General Assembly."

Wins in the Delaware General Assembly

McBride has had huge wins while serving as a senator in the Delaware General Assembly. The biggest one, and one she's most proud of, is the passage of the Healthy Delaware Families Act. Effective in 2026, it provides workers with up to 12 weeks of paid leave to care for themselves or others.

Naysayers told her that it would take a decade, but thanks to a Democratic supermajority in both chambers, the legislation passed in a year.

McBride created the bill based on her own experience caring for her late husband, Andy Cray, as well as what she heard talking to voters.

"I don't believe that the breathing room that Andy and I had – the time and ability to get care that we had – I do not believe that should be a matter of luck," McBride told me. "I believe it should be the law of the land."

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While McBride is aware of her potential "first," she also plans on doing exactly what she did in the Delaware Senate: passing legislation that helps her neighbors. Aside from the Healthy Delaware Families Act, she has authored bipartisan legislation on gun safety, Medicare expansion and media literacy.

"I recognize the importance of young people – of people of any age – who are feeling unseen and unheard and alone and left behind, who are struggling right now to see themselves represented with positive news in this moment," McBride said. "And I'm not running just to be known for my identity. I'm running to be Delaware's member of Congress, focused on all the issues that matter to the constituents that I'm seeking to represent."

A potential 'first' in Congress

There will be people who only ever see McBride as her gender. They'll vote against her because she represents what they fear – a person who can create political wins while existing in a body the Republican Party wants to control.

There are also many people who will see McBride as a sign of hope. In the past few years, Republicans have used anti-trans legislation to stigmatize the community. McBride's success in the Delaware Senate and now her U.S. House race is emblematic of a life that should be possible for all trans people.

What I hope for McBride is that she'll be able to hold the honor of being the first trans member of Congress while also making a name for herself as simply a good politician and effective legislator. And if she wins in November, I doubt she'll be the last.

Follow USA TODAY elections columnist Sara Pequeño on X, formerly Twitter, @sara__pequeno and Facebook facebook.com/PequenoWrites