Biography

Sarah Elizabeth McBride (born August 9, 1990) is an American activist and politician who is the U.S. representative for Delaware's at-large congressional district. A member of the Democratic Party, she served in the Delaware Senate from January 2021 to January 2025, representing the state's 1st senate district. Prior, she was the national press secretary of the Human Rights Campaign from 2016 to 2021. McBride is the nation's highest ranking openly transgender elected official and the first openly transgender member of the United States Congress. In 2020, McBride became the first openly transgender person elected as a state senator in the United States. Prior to her election, McBride lobbied for the successful passage of legislation in Delaware banning discrimination on the basis of gender identity in employment, housing, insurance, and public accommodations. In July 2016, she was a speaker at the Democratic National Convention, becoming the first openly transgender person to address a major party convention in American history. In 2018, McBride published her memoir Tomorrow Will Be Different: Love, Loss, and the Fight for Trans Equality, with a foreword by Joe Biden. McBride has been credited with shaping President Biden's personal views and political evolution on transgender issues.