Delaware Sen. Sarah McBride described her first week on Capitol Hill after being elected as the first openly transgender member of Congress as a “crash course in dysfunction.”” AND “performance art” of the federal legislature.
McBride, 34, recently returned home from orientation for a modern member of the House of Representatives, where he is a Democrat she was welcomed with attacks from Republican colleagues who successfully pushed to ban her from women’s bathrooms.
Republican lawmakers’ reaction to McBride’s historic election turned the anti-transgender antagonism that had featured in GOP campaigns into a personal attack on the modern House member. But McBride, who did not campaign for her identity, largely avoided hostility. She refused to give media interviews on the subject and instead issued statements calling the attacks a manufactured culture war and a distraction from issues such as the cost of living., saying “I’m not here to argue about bathrooms.”
“Let me tell you, over the last week I have been on a crash course in the dysfunction of Congress and, in some cases, the performance art of Congress,” she said at the awards ceremony during orientation hosted by the Future Coalition, a nonpartisan organization of Gen Z and millennial state and federal lawmakers.
“That’s why it’s good for my soul to be in a room full of Democrats and Republicans who understand that our job is to roll up our sleeves, dig into the details and bring people together to make government work better. That’s our job,” McBride said.
In Monday’s social media posts, McBride shared highlights from the second and final weeks of orientation, including awards ceremony last Wednesday.
In keynote speechMcBride stated that she believes that people across the country “of every ideological background” are facing what she called “their own crisis of hope,” rooted in the fear that they will no longer be able to “meet the scope and scale of the challenges we face.” face” both individually and collectively.
She said this fear is based on the “fierce competition for pain” between political parties and the toxicity of seeing others as enemies rather than neighbors. She told newborn lawmakers they have an “increased responsibility” to prove they can work together effectively and practice “radical grace and compassion” to assist find solutions for constituents.
“And that’s a difficult task in Congress right now, so in state legislatures, the onus falls especially on your shoulders to live that truth,” McBride said.
Other highlights she shared Monday included the relationships she formed with members of Congress on both sides of the aisle during orientation and getting lost in the pedestrian tunnels beneath the sprawling Capitol sophisticated.
McBride also managed to secure her first-choice office after selecting “lucky number 13” in the congressional office lottery, – she said on social media. McBride shouted out “other Swifties” in the post because Taylor Swift considers 13 to be her lucky number and it has meaning to her fans.
She said she spoke to the media about her campaign priorities of providing affordable health care, housing and child care, and met with entrepreneurs about creating jobs in Delaware and expanding homeownership opportunities.
On a more personal note, McBride shared a photo on Instagram with former Delaware Gov. Jack Markell, now U.S. ambassador to Italy, and former Delaware first lady Carla Markell, who returned to her home state on Sunday. McBride said the couple had mentored and supported her throughout her life and that “aside from my family, no other person has done more for me.”
