Sarah McBride was elected to represent Delaware. As the highest-ranking transgender elected official in the country, however, she is also being asked to speak on behalf of all transgender Americans. Every day, she navigates how to govern effectively alongside colleagues who don’t recognize her for who she is, as more and more trans people fear for their rights — and are looking to her to speak out.
But to make real change in this moment, she believes that she needs to choose her battles wisely — and so does the LGBTQ+ movement.
“We can’t continue to fight every fight on the Republicans’ terms and turf. That’s true for me as a member of Congress, it’s true for me as a Democrat, and it’s true for me as a trans person,” she said. In her view, it’s not just the LGBTQ+ rights movement that needs to change its strategy; it’s the progressive movement as a whole. They need to fight smarter, not harder, she said, especially under a second Trump administration.
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She’s not going to take the bait about where she uses the bathroom; she expects that would just invite more attacks. And she won’t take up every fight that transgender Americans want her to; she’s not an activist, and she didn’t campaign on being one. McBride believes the best way she can change hearts and minds, including among her Republican colleagues, is by staying focused on the job she was elected to do for Delaware.
“We have to reclaim the narrative and the humanity in the public’s mind of trans people,” she said. “The most good that I think I can do is to be a full human being, to not be siloed and reduced to only one part of who I am, as proud as I am of that part.”
The day that President Donald Trump was sworn into office, trans and nonbinary Americans received a message from their new president: their identities are un-American. Two days later, The 19th sat down with McBride for an hour-long interview in her congressional office.
Inside, framed photos of her long career in Delaware politics overlook the couch and coffee table where she works. A photo of McBride and her late husband, Andy Cray, rests near a photo of her with former President Joe Biden. Water cups and coffee continuously populate the table that serves as her desk. An American flag hangs behind her armchair.
McBride is glad to be here. And she plans to focus on her own priorities, despite Republicans’ anti-trans agenda.
- DOVER, DELAWARE – MARCH 4: Democratic congressional candidate from Delaware Sarah McBride chats with State Senator Dave Sokola, left, following a press conference on the steps of Delaware Legislative Hall on March, 4 2024 in Dover, Delaware. If elected, she would be the first transgender person to serve in the U.S. Congress. McBride, who currently respresents Delaware’s First State Senate district, has worked for former Delaware Governor Jack Markell, the late Attorney General Beau Biden, the Obama White House, and most recently as the national spokesperson for the Human Rights Campaign.
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WASHINGTON, DC – NOVEMBER 02: Demonstrators gather at the Ellipse, after marching from Freedom Plaza for the Women’s March on November 02, 2024 in Washington, DC. Demonstrators are marching on the weekend before Election Day to show support for reproductive rights.
(Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)
Sarah McBride was elected to represent Delaware. As the highest-ranking transgender elected official in the country, however, she is also being asked to speak on behalf of all transgender Americans. Every day, she navigates how to govern effectively alongside colleagues who don’t recognize her for who she is, as more and more trans people fear for their rights — and are looking to her to speak out.
But to make real change in this moment, she believes that she needs to choose her battles wisely — and so does the LGBTQ+ movement.
“We can’t continue to fight every fight on the Republicans’ terms and turf. That’s true for me as a member of Congress, it’s true for me as a Democrat, and it’s true for me as a trans person,” she said. In her view, it’s not just the LGBTQ+ rights movement that needs to change its strategy; it’s the progressive movement as a whole. They need to fight smarter, not harder, she said, especially under a second Trump administration.
She’s not going to take the bait about where she uses the bathroom; she expects that would just invite more attacks. And she won’t take up every fight that transgender Americans want her to; she’s not an activist, and she didn’t campaign on being one. McBride believes the best way she can change hearts and minds, including among her Republican colleagues, is by staying focused on the job she was elected to do for Delaware.
“We have to reclaim the narrative and the humanity in the public’s mind of trans people,” she said. “The most good that I think I can do is to be a full human being, to not be siloed and reduced to only one part of who I am, as proud as I am of that part.”
The day that President Donald Trump was sworn into office, trans and nonbinary Americans received a message from their new president: their identities are un-American. Two days later, The 19th sat down with McBride for an hour-long interview in her congressional office.
Inside, framed photos of her long career in Delaware politics overlook the couch and coffee table where she works. A photo of McBride and her late husband, Andy Cray, rests near a photo of her with former President Joe Biden. Water cups and coffee continuously populate the table that serves as her desk. An American flag hangs behind her armchair.
McBride is glad to be here. And she plans to focus on her own priorities, despite Republicans’ anti-trans agenda.
