Virginia Democrat Danica Roem was projected to win her election Tuesday, according to Decision Desk HQ, becoming the commonwealth’s first openly transgender state senator and the first out transgender person elected to a state Senate anywhere in the South.

Roem, 39, defeated former Fairfax County police detective Bill Woolf, a conservative Republican endorsed by Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin ®, who vowed to bar transgender athletes from competing on school sports teams if elected.

“You attack trans kids in my district at your own political peril,” Roem told The Hill in a recent interview.

  • Flying Squid
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    1031 year ago

    I hope she does better than the transwoman in Montana who was not allowed to speak.

    • @TheOgreChef@lemmy.world
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      541 year ago

      Dems are projected to win the house, and more importantly for her, they won the senate where she will serve. So she’s unlikely to be as hampered by republicans as the Montana rep.

      • Admiral Patrick
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        51
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        1 year ago

        the Montana rep

        Zoey Zooey Zephyr

        Not throwing shade at you, just trying to not diminish her any further than she already has been.

        • @TheOgreChef@lemmy.world
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          281 year ago

          No offense taken! Thank you for adding that in as I was not familiar with her. More visibility is always a good thing.

    • Roem was already a member of the House, this just marks career progression for her. As for Zooey Zephyr, she has had a fair impact in spite of her being barred from the floor for the last week of the session.

      • katy ✨
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        271 year ago

        and she’s also basically a road and public transportation nerd (which is how she originally got elected) :)

        • @RojoSanIchiban@lemmy.world
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          71 year ago

          Ah I thought that was her! Saw her on a podcast interview some time ago and was remembering the story of how she ran for the state house originally because of an issue with a road that was getting ignored.

      • @Steve@lemmy.world
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        91 year ago

        Awesome! Honestly that’s more important to me than her being trans. I just assumed she’d be another lawyer. But having real jobs represented is great!

    • kase
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      31 year ago

      There could be a closeted trans person living as their AGAB, which would be sad. Or there could be a stealth trans Virginia senator, which would make for an awesome story

    • @RealFknNito@lemmy.world
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      41 year ago

      Still trying to figure out who got pornhub banned in our state but for now I’m glad we made good history this time.

      • Grayox
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        21 year ago

        I thought there was a supreme court ruling in another state that made that Unconstitutional.

  • AutoTL;DRB
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    31 year ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:


    Virginia Democrat Danica Roem was projected to win her election Tuesday, according to Decision Desk HQ, becoming the commonwealth’s first openly transgender state senator and the first out transgender person elected to a state Senate anywhere in the South.

    Roem, 39, defeated former Fairfax County police detective Bill Woolf, a conservative Republican endorsed by Virginia Gov.

    Glenn Youngkin ®, who vowed to bar transgender athletes from competing on school sports teams if elected.

    “You attack trans kids in my district at your own political peril,” Roem told The Hill in a recent interview.

    Roem, who became the nation’s first openly transgender state lawmaker when she was elected to Virginia’s House of Delegates in 2017, campaigned on her experience in the legislature and successful bipartisan bills, including legislation signed by Youngkin guaranteeing hot meals to public school students and reducing traffic congestion along Route 28 in Virginia.

    Roem’s election has secured a key Senate seat for Virginia Democrats, who spent millions this cycle vying for continued control of the state’s upper chamber.


    The original article contains 262 words, the summary contains 169 words. Saved 35%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!