First openly transgender woman of color elected to public office in US

Minneapolis City Council candidate Andrea Jenkins won her race Tuesday night, becoming the first openly transgender woman of color elected to public office in the United States.

Jenkins’s victory was reported by the Minneapolis Star Tribune. 

Andrea Jenkins wins Minneapolis City Council seat, becoming first out trans woman of color elected to public office in U.S. pic.twitter.com/ummf5CcacY

— Rachel Chazin (@RChazinStrib) November 8, 2017

Jenkins was previously a policy aide to council Vice President Elizabeth Glidden, and her campaign priorities included affordable housing and raising the minimum wage, according to The Advocate.

{mosads}Jenkins ran with an affiliation to the Democratic Party in the officially nonpartisan race and defeated three other candidates, The Advocate reported.

Her victory followed another historic election result Tuesday night: Virginia House of Delegates candidate Danica Roem (D) defeated incumbent Robert Marshall (R) to become Virginia’s first openly transgender elected official.

Roem’s win in Virginia’s 13th District marks the first election of an openly transgender person to a state legislature.

Marshall, who referred to himself as Virginia’s “chief homophobe,” refused to publicly debate Roem. Ads by Marshall’s campaign also referred to Roem by her birth gender.

LGBTQ advocates hailed Roem’s victory on Tuesday evening, with the Human Rights Campaign calling it “a clear warning to anti-equality lawmakers across the country.”