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Three LGBTQ women made history Friday when they were sworn in to the 119th Congress.
Rep. Sarah McBride, D-Del., became the first openly transgender person elected to Congress; Rep. Emily Randall, D-Wash., became the first out queer Latina in Congress; and Rep. Julie Johnson, D-Texas, became the first out LGBTQ person from the South elected to Congress.
The trio are among the hundreds of LGBTQ candidates who ran for and won elected office in November, with many of them making history. There are now 13 openly LGBTQ elected officials serving in Congress: 12 in the House, including the historic trio, and Wisconsin’s Tammy Baldwin in the Senate.
Rep. Sarah McBrideMcBride served two terms as a Delaware state senator before winning the state’s only House seat in November. McBride is no stranger to making history. In 2020, she was elected the country’s first openly trans state senator. Four years earlier, she became the first trans person to speak at a major political convention when she gave a speech at the 2016 Democratic National Convention. And in 2012, she became the first out trans woman to work in the White House when she interned during the Obama administration.
McBride took the Amtrak down to Washington, D.C., with her family on Thursday, ahead of her swearing in.
“I am ready, I am excited, so let’s go get sworn in to Congress,” McBride said on her Instagram story.
Randall was elected to the Washington state Senate in 2018 by 102 votes, flipping a seat previously held by a Republican. She said she decided to run for office in late 2016, after the election of President Donald Trump.
Before entering politics, Randall was a community organizer and advocate working to expand access to affordable health care — a cause that’s important to her due to growing up with a younger sister, Olivia, who had severe developmental and physical disabilities, according to her website. Olivia, who died when she was 20 years old, was able to get access to the care she needed in part thanks to Washington state’s Medicaid expansion, according to Randall’s website.
Randall shared a video on social media of her approaching the U.S. Capitol Friday, saying she was “so excited to be here” and “really honored to have the chance to represent our district.”
Johnson became the first member of the Texas House who had a spouse of the same gender when she won her race for the state’s 115th District in 2018.
She ran for Congress on a platform that included protecting abortion access at the federal level, strengthening gun laws and protecting the Affordable Care Act.
Since 1991, Johnson has been an attorney who specializes in personal injury cases, family law and mediation, according to her biography on the Texas House of Representatives website.
Following her win in November, Johnson said she planned to work tirelessly in Congress for “a future where all Texans can thrive.”
Jo Yurcaba is a reporter for NBC Out.
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