US Election 2020: First Trans Senator, First Black Gay Congressman

United States Election 2020 set new records and new precedents. American people have elected a first transgender senator and a first black gay congressman. LGBT rights activist and Democrat candidate Sarah McBride won as the Delaware’s Senator. 30-year-old McBride, who is a former spokesperson for the LGBTQ advocacy group Human Rights campaign, has defeated the Republican Steve Washington with ease. Thus, Sarah will be the highest-ranking transgender official in the US.

McBride was a trainee in the White House when Mr Barack Obama was the US President. McBride had become the first transgender person to speak at a major political convention when she addressed Democrats in Philadelphia in 2016. Soon after her victory in the just-concluded election, McBride wrote, “I hope tonight shows an LGBTQ kid that our democracy is big enough for them, too.”

Meanwhile, Democrat candidate for Congress Ritchie Torres has created history by capturing New York’s 15th district. 32-year-old Ritchie Torres, a city councillor, will be the first openly gay Black Congressman. Ritchie is an Afro-Latino gay member.

Another Democrat black gay candidate for Congress, Mondaire Jones, also created history. He is declared as the winner later on Wednesday. Jones will now follow Ritchie Torres into the House and thus becomes the second openly gay Black Congressman. Jones beat Republican Maureen McArdle Schulman and Conservative Party candidate Yehudis Gottesfeld in the race to represent New York’s 17th Congressional District.

On the other hand, all four members of the progressive “Squad” of Democratic congresswomen of colour – Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley and Rashida Tlaib – have been comfortably re-elected.