Danica Roem just made history as Virginia's first openly transgender elected official — and she won by focusing on local issues.
A local journalist, Roem unseated incumbent Robert Marshall on Tuesday to win a spot in the state's House of Delegates. The candidates had wildly different perspectives on LGBTQ issues: Marshall referred to himself as Virginia's "chief homophobe" in 2006.
Roem outraised Marshall with nearly $500,000 in donations from all over the country. During her campaign, she reportedly focused more on local issues like traffic and only talked about her gender identity when asked.
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Marshall and his supporters, however, attacked Roem's gender identity in negative campaign ads and refused to address her with female pronouns. In response, Roem criticized Marshall for advancing a conservative agenda rather than addressing local issues.
A political science professor told The Washington Post that Roem's win "demonstrates good political instincts: not to rise to the challenge of an opponent who wanted to make this a referendum on who Roem is."
