Transgender candidate takes on culture warrior in Virginia
MANASSAS, Va. — She’s a transgender woman and an experienced journalist who sings in a metal band in her spare time.
He has sponsored some of the most socially conservative legislation in Virginia in the past 25 years, including a measure this year that would have restricted the bathrooms transgender people can use.
Democrat Danica Roem is challenging Republican Bob Marshall for his northern Virginia seat in the state House of Delegates. With such stark differences between the candidates, the race is expected to draw in big money and is being seen by some as a referendum on rights for gay and transgender people.
Roem would be the first openly transgender candidate to win and serve in a state legislature, according to the Victory Fund, a political action committee that supports her and calls Marshall “the most anti-LGBTQ member of the Virginia state legislature.”