Sarah McBride on the campaign trail in March.

Kent Nishimura/Getty Images

Hide caption

Toggle label

Kent Nishimura/Getty Images

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

Delaware State Senator Sarah McBride is making history again – she will become the first openly transgender person to serve in the US Congress.

McBride will succeed his Democratic colleague Lisa Blunt Rochester as the state's at-large member of Congress. Blunt Rochester handily won her race for Senate on Tuesday night.

McBride was a rising star in politics. She previously worked for former Delaware Governor 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 conference.

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

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

“It’s a lot harder to hate up close,” she said. “I have seen the power of those interpersonal relationships you have when you are present as a peer and colleague – I have seen how they have changed the approaches, minds and hearts of the people of Delaware. I know it might be more challenging in Washington, but I know it’s possible.”

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

She previously said of her history-making campaign that she hopes people ultimately think of the policies she achieved before they think of her identity.

“I think this is the best way to ensure that I am first but not last, and that we create a world where it is no longer notable when a trans candidate runs and wins,” she said.