The last time a trans woman was elected to a state legislature in the US was back in 1992 when Althea Garrison accomplished it during the legislative 'Year Of The Woman'. She was nondisclosed when she was elected to a seat in the Massachusetts House, but only lasted one term as she was outed days after her win.
Over the last few election cycles several out trans women have attempted to get elected to state legislatures in Arizona (Amanda Simpson) Maryland (Dana Beyer), Nevada (Lauren Scott) and twice in Oklahoma (Brittany Novotny & Paula Sophia) all to fall just short of doing so.
Stacie Laughton was elected in New Hampshire in 2012, but never served because of undisclosed legal issues.
>With the exponential increase in anti-trans legislation pushed by our right wing enemies, the time has never been more imperative to have trans people in state legislatures helping to not only write good legislation, but be in the position to kill bad bills instead of begging for inclusion or to kill it from the outside.
And if we ever wish to see a trans person elected to the US Congress, viable congressional candidates come from big city councils, judicial benches and state legislatures, and we have to win some of those races to even get political party attention..
Yesterday Danni Askini announced she was going to run for an open Seattle seat in the Washington State legislature in its 43rd house district. Current state rep Brady Walkinshaw is moving on to attempt a run for a US congressional seat
Danni has been and advocate for 15 years, and was busy in Olympia killing this year's unjust anti-trans bills in the GOP controlled Washington Senate.
Askini is vying to become the first out trans person in Washington state and nationally elected to a state legislative seat.
Hopefully, this will be the breakthrough year that happens, and if it does, it will be right on time for that piece of trans history to occur.
Best of luck to you Danni, and when November 8 comes, hope I'll be writing about a history making moment.
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