A transgender woman has unseated one of Virginia’s most socially conservative lawmakers to become the first openly transgender member of the House of Delegates.
Democrat Danica Roem beat Republican incumbent Bob Marshall in Tuesday’s election in the northern Virginia district near the nation’s capital.
Marshall has served in the House since 1992 and has been a lightning rod for controversy. He has often drawn the ire of even his own party.
Roem is a former journalist. She will make history as the first openly transgender person elected and then seated in a state legislature. But her gender identity wasn’t a key part of her campaign. Instead, she focused on jobs, schools and northern Virginia’s traffic congestion.