Danica Roem (D-VA) won a Virginia State Senate seat Tuesday, the first openly transgender candidate to win a senate seat in the South.
Roem, 39, defeated Bill Woolf, a former Fairfax County police detective endorsed by Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R-VA).
Woolf had vowed to ban transgender athletes from competing on school sports teams if elected.
Roem’s victory was a significant part of a big night for Virginia Democrats, which saw them hold the Senate and capture the House of Delegates. The night’s results were a stinging blow to Youngkin, who invested significant personal and political capital in races across the commonwealth.
Roem made history in 2017 when elected to the Virginia House of Delegates, becoming the nation’s first openly transgender state lawmaker.
Roem made his identity as a transgender person a cornerstone of his campaign.
To the people of western Prince…
