Delaware's Sarah McBride will be the first transgender state senator in U.S. history

Though the votes for president are still being counted, there are some decisive victories that can be reported from Election Day. In Delaware, Sarah McBride, the 30-year-old Democratic candidate for state senate, won her race to become the first transgender state senator in U.S. history. "I hope tonight shows an LGBTQ kid that our democracy is big enough for them, too," McBride tweeted after announcing her win.

Speaking to Mic earlier this year, McBride said, "With all that's happening at the national level, it’s easy to become tired and dispirited. Too often, it feels like our politics must be so broken that we can no longer do big things." She ran on a policy platform of raising the minimum wage, expanding efforts to reform the criminal justice system, and investing in long-term care for those who struggle with addiction. "This can’t be the time for sitting on the sidelines," McBride told Mic. "This is a time to redouble our efforts and to show what neighbors can accomplish when we work together."

In a press release, Annise Parker, the president and CEO of LGBTQ Victory Fund, said that McBride's win is a "powerful testament to the growing influence of transgender leaders in our politics and gives hope to countless trans people looking toward a brighter future." McBride has been politically active since her time at American University, where she served as the president of student government. As Mic wrote in September, shortly after her primary win, "McBride has long been a fixture in Delaware politics, including having worked for former State Attorney General Beau Biden and playing an integral role in helping pass the state's 2013 Gender Identity Nondiscrimination Act."

Running as a Democrat in a heavily Democratic district, McBride's general election win was anticipated. But it's still an exciting victory given how many times the Trump administration and other Republican-led state legislatures have attempted to dehumanize transgender people and deny them access to public and private services.

Candidates who are not cisgender were successful on a number of fronts this election. In Oklahoma, a state that supported President Trump with 65% of the vote, Mauree Turner, a non-binary community organizer for the ACLU Smart Justice Campaign, won a seat in the Oklahoma state legislature, beating her Republican challenger with 71% of the vote. In addition to becoming the first openly non-binary lawmaker in U.S. history, Turner will also be the first Muslim lawmaker in Oklahoma's statehouse.