Sarah McBride

Early life

Sarah McBride was born in Wilmington, Delaware, to David and Sally McBride on August 9, 1990. Her father was a lawyer for Young Conaway Stargatt & Taylor; her mother was a high school guidance counselor and a founder of the Cab Calloway School of the Arts in Wilmington.

McBride graduated from Cab Calloway in 2009, and then attended American University in Washington, D.C., where she earned a bachelor's degree in 2013. She was elected president of the American University Student Government in 2011, having earlier worked on "arts advocacy, the purchase of conflict-free minerals on campus and academic regulations" as a member of the undergraduate senate from 2010. During this time she had already begun political advocacy, including as a co-founder of Delaware's Young Democrats Movement and on the election campaigns for local Democrats, including Beau Biden, Matthew Denn, and Jack Markell. At the end of her term as president of the student government, she penned a letter in the school's newspaper in which she announced her transition.

In a 2011 interview, she cited Markell as a particular role model.

Social and political activism

McBride has said that she has been interested in politics since she was a child. She worked as a staffer on several campaigns in Delaware, including that of Governor Jack Markell in 2008 and of Delaware attorney general Beau Biden in 2010. In 2011, McBride was elected student body president at American University. During her last week as student body president in 2012, McBride gained international attention when she came out as a transgender woman in her college's student newspaper, The Eagle.

McBride's coming out was featured on NPR, The Huffington Post, and by Lady Gaga's Born This Way Foundation. After coming out, McBride received a call from Attorney General of Delaware Beau Biden, saying, "Sarah, I just wanted you to know, I'm so proud of you. I love you, and you're still a part of the Biden family." Vice President Joe Biden expressed similar sentiments, sharing that he was proud of her and happy for her.

In 2012, McBride interned at the White House, becoming the first openly transgender woman to work there in any capacity. McBride worked in the White House Office of Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs, where she worked on LGBTQ issues. In a speech in May 2015, Second Lady Jill Biden told McBride's story. She added, "we believe young people should be valued for who they are, no matter what they look like, where they're from, the gender with which they identify, or who they love."

In January 2013, McBride joined the board of directors of Equality Delaware and quickly became the state's leading advocate for legal protections and hate crime legislation for transgender Delawareans. McBride and her family led the lobbying effort for legislation protecting Delawareans from discrimination on the basis of gender identity and expression in employment, housing, insurance, and public accommodations. In addition to serving as the primary spokesperson for the legislation, McBride built on her close relationship with Governor Jack Markell and Attorney General Beau Biden to gain the vocal support of both officials behind the bill. The legislation passed the state senate by a margin of one vote and the state house by a vote of 24–17. An amended bill was re-passed by the state senate and immediately signed into law by Markell in June 2013.

Upon signing the legislation, Markell stated:I especially want to thank my friend Sarah McBride, an intelligent and talented Delawarean who happens to be transgender. She courageously stood before the General Assembly to describe her personal struggles with gender identity and communicate her desire to return home after her college graduation without fear. Her tireless advocacy for passage of this legislation has made a real difference for all transgender people in Delaware.

Delaware Senate

On July 9, 2019, McBride formally announced her candidacy for the Delaware Senate. She stated that her focus would be health care and paid family and medical leave.

McBride won her election in November 2020, becoming the first transgender state senator in United States history. She replaced fellow Democrat Harris McDowell III, who retired at the end of his term. During her first term, she successfully sponsored the Healthy Delaware Families Act, which would allow families to take a paid 12-week family or medical leave. The law provides for workers to receive up to 80% of their current wages or a maximum of $900 per week, with the program paid for through automatic payroll contributions.

United States House of Representatives

In June 2023, McBride announced her candidacy to represent Delaware's at-large congressional district in the 2024 election to replace Representative Lisa Blunt Rochester, who had announced she was running for the U.S. Senate seat left by retiring senator Tom Carper. Rochester endorsed McBride.

During her campaign for Congress, McBride emphasized her record of passing paid family and medical leave in Delaware, along with working to increase the minimum wage. Her key priorities also included protecting reproductive rights, expanding access to healthcare, and addressing economic insecurity. On September 10, 2024, McBride won the Democratic primary election for the 2024 United States House of Representatives election in Delaware, winning 80% of the votes against two other candidates, officially becoming the Democratic nominee. She won the general election in November 2024 with 58% of the vote, and became the first openly transgender member of the U.S. Congress on January 3, 2025.

Misgendering controversies

Two weeks after McBride's election to Congress, Republican representative Nancy Mace introduced a bill to ban transgender women from using the women's bathroom on Capitol Hill, saying that the bill specifically was meant to target McBride. Shortly thereafter, Republican House speaker Mike Johnson enacted a ban to the same effect. McBride subsequently announced that she would comply with the ban, saying "I'm not here to fight about bathrooms, I'm here to fight for Delawareans and to bring down costs facing families."

On February 7, 2025, Rep. Mary Miller was presiding and introduced McBride as "the gentleman from Delaware, Mr. McBride." Rep. McBride continued her floor speech without acknowledging the comment. This was later corrected in the congressional record to the correctly gendered honorific.

On March 11, 2025, in a hearing of the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Europe, Chair Keith Self introduced McBride as "the representative from Delaware, Mr. McBride." McBride replied by thanking Self as "Madam chair". Ranking Member Bill Keating interrupted and responded to Self, "Mr. Chairman, have you no decency?" Self repeated "Mr. McBride", and attempted to continue the hearing, but Keating stated "You will not continue it with me unless you introduce a duly-elected representative the right way!" Keating's absence would deny the hearing a quorum, so Self adjourned the hearing. During the exchange Self said "we have set the standard on the House floor", presumably referring to the February incident.

Committee assignments

Committee on Foreign Affairs

Subcommittee on Europe

Subcommittee on Oversight and Accountability

Committee on Science, Space, and Technology

Subcommittee on Research and Technology

Caucus memberships

Congressional Equality Caucus (co-chair)

Congressional Democratic Women's Caucus (whip)

Congressional Progressive Caucus

Future Forum

New Democrat Coalition

Political positions

Foreign policy

In an August 2023 interview with Jewish Insider, McBride "framed herself as a staunch supporter of Israel and the U.S.–Israel relationship, as well as a committed fighter against antisemitism". She has supported a two-state solution, American aid to Israel, and the Abraham Accords.

Following the outbreak of the Gaza war, McBride advocated for a ceasefire, and praised the ceasefire agreed to in January 2025. Following the International Criminal Court's decision to issue arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, McBride voted against the Illegitimate Court Counteraction Act, which would impose sanctions against the Court.

In July 2025, McBride criticized Benjamin Netanyahu's government for being responsible "for the famine in the Gaza Strip."

In July 2026, McBride voted in favor of Thomas Massie's amendment to the Department of State's national security appropriation that would have rescinded $3.3 billion in US aid to Israel. The amendment did not pass.

McBride supported Biden's policy on Ukraine, and further supported the country during the Trump administration.

As a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, McBride travelled in January 2026 to Copenhagen as part of a bipartisan congressional delegation in a show of support amid the Greenland crisis. The delegation, which also included senators Chris Coons, Lisa Murkowski, Jeanne Shaheen, and Thom Tillis, met with Danish and Greenlandic officials to underscore the value of their partnership and the Denmark–US relations.

McBride has been critical of the US involvement in the 2026 Iran war. Following the February 2026 "Operation Epic Fury" strikes in Iran, she issued a statement condemning the military action. She has repeatedly voted in favor of House War Powers Resolutions aimed at compelling the United States to end its involvement in the war. In July she criticized the Trump Administration for not providing adequate information to Congress or the American people. She went on to state that the war had made Iran "stronger geopolitically than they were [before the war]" and "has resulted in not only higher gas prices, but higher costs for [Americans] across the board."

Health care

McBride has opposed efforts to reduce Medicaid spending. In March 2025, she joined Delaware Senators Chris Coons and Lisa Blunt Rochester in Wilmington to warn that the House Republican budget resolution would require Medicaid cuts that could cost Delaware about $200 million. She voted against the One Big Beautiful Bill Act in July 2025, describing it derisively as "Trumpcare" and saying it put health coverage for 54,000 Delawareans at risk. During the 2025 United States federal government shutdown, she supported Democrats' demand that enhanced Affordable Care Act premium tax credits be extended as part of any agreement to reopen the government. She introduced the Flexible Leave Act with Republican Anna Paulina Luna, which would allow workers to take FMLA leave intermittently or on a reduced schedule without having to get employer approval first.

Social policy

In the Delaware Senate, McBride was the Senate sponsor of legislation banning the gay panic defense in criminal cases. Every senator cosponsored the bill, which passed unanimously and was signed into law on September 2023, making Delaware the 17th state to ban the defense.

In the House, McBride was an original cosponsor of the 2025 reintroduction of the Equality Act, and in November 2025, she introduced the Global Respect Act with Pennsylvania Republican Brian Fitzpatrick, which would sanction foreign officials responsible for human rights abuses against LGBTQ people. McBride criticized Executive Order 14168, signed by Donald Trump on his first day in the office, characterizing it as "red meat for his extreme base". She argued in 2025 on the The Ezra Klein Show that the LGBTQ movement had lost its focus on persuasion after the legalization of same-sex marriage and should avoid absolutist positions while trying to move public opinion.

She spoke out in 2025 against a proposed ban on transgender service members in the United States Armed Forces. Following Trump's Executive Order 14183, imposing a ban on transgender people serving in the military, McBride spoke at the retirement ceremony of transgender service members Colonel Bree Fram, Lieutenant Colonel Erin Krizek, Commander Blake Dremann, Sergeant First Class Cathrine Schmid, and Chief Petty Officer Jaida McGuire on January 8, 2026. McBride called the forced retirement of transgender military personnel "immoral, unfair, and un-American."

Personal life

On August 24, 2014, McBride married fellow LGBTQ rights activist Andrew Cray in a small, private wedding ceremony on their apartment rooftop in Washington, D.C. The ceremony was officiated by Episcopal bishop Gene Robinson. Four days after their wedding, Cray died from oral cancer.

McBride is an ordained Presbyterian elder.

Publications

Books

Tomorrow Will Be Different: Love, Loss, and the Fight for Trans Equality, by Sarah McBride; foreword by Joe Biden; Crown Archetype (2018).

Raising Kids Beyond the Binary: Celebrating God's Transgender and Gender-Diverse Children, by Jamie Bruesehoff, foreword by Sarah McBride; Broadleaf Books (2023).

Articles

"Op-Ed: The Real Me"; The Eagle (American University); May 1, 2012. (republished in an expanded version a week later at the HuffPost)

"Forever and Ever: Losing My Husband at 24"; HuffPost (2015).