Washington:

Delaware state senator Sarah McBride won a seat in the US House of Representatives on Tuesday, making her the first openly transgender politician elected to Congress.

The Democrat was the comfortable winner against Republican John Whalen III, US news networks projected, as she built up an unassailable lead with around two-thirds of ballots counted.

“Delaware has sent the message loud and clear that we must be a country that protects reproductive freedom… and that this is a democracy that is big enough for all of us,” she said in a statement posted to social media.

McBride told CBS in a recent interview her other priorities would be “affordable child care, paid family and medical leave, housing, health care.”

Transgender rights have become a hot-button issue in the US election — with the participation of trans people in competitive sports and the issue of access to gender-affirming care for minors triggering fiery debate.

Democrats broadly support transgender rights but many Republicans denounce what they see as political correctness that ignores the erosion of biological women’s rights to their own spaces, from bathrooms and prisons to sports contests.

The fight has dominated TV advertising in the White House race between Vice President Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, with the Republican former president accusing Democrats last year of “left-wing gender insanity” with respect to transgender youth.

The LGBTQ+ Victory Fund congratulated McBride for “making history” in American politics.

“Sarah’s voice is vital, and she will continue to be a tireless advocate for her constituents and community,” the group said.

The fund has identified at least 62 transgender candidates running this year across the country — nearly double the 34 who ran in 2020.

They include former Spanish teacher Mel Manuel, who identifies as transgender and nonbinary and was running for a seat in Louisiana, one of the most traditionally conservative in the country.

But they were trailing Republican heavyweight Steve Scalise by almost 50 percentage points in the early stages of the count.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

President Joe Biden has cast an early ballot in the 2024 general election.

It’s a bittersweet moment for Biden, who decided to end his reelection campaign in July because of growing concerns about his health and Democrats’ worries about his chances of defeating former President Donald Trump. Biden voted on Monday at the state of Delaware Department of Elections, not far from his home outside Wilmington, Delaware at an early voting site, where voters were lined up down the street to cast ballots.

Biden chatted with voters as he waited in line to cast his ballot, and helped push an older woman in a wheelchair who ahead of him. The president waited in line for about 40 minutes before he cast his ballot.

He handed his identification to the election worker, who had him sign a form and announced: “Joseph Biden now voting.”

As the president cast his ballot behind a black drape, some first-time voters were announced and the room erupted in cheers for them.

For all but a few years since 1970, Biden has either held office or been running for one during election season.

But this year, his hopes lie with a newer generation of Democrats, including three on the Delaware ballot looking to make history.

Vice President Kamala Harris, whom Biden endorsed after dropping out, is vying to become the first Black woman and first person of South Asian descent to serve as president.

State Sen. Sarah McBride is looking to become the first openly transgender member of the U.S. House.

McBride, a longtime friend of the Biden family, had served as an aide in then-President Barack Obama ‘s administration and on the campaigns in 2006 and 2010 for the president’s late son Beau Biden’s runs for Delaware attorney general. She also worked for former Delaware Gov. Jack Markell.

McBride hopes to succeed Democratic Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester, who wants to become Delaware’s first Black woman to serve in the U.S. Senate. She has served as Delaware’s lone representative in the House since 2017.

On Monday, Biden had breakfast Blunt Rochester. He’s known her family for decades, and campaigned with her father, Theodore “Ted” Blunt, who served on the Wilmington City Council for almost a quarter century, including as president. Biden on Sunday evening formally endorsed Blunt Rochester, cutting a video for her campaign in which he called her “Delaware through and through.”

Blunt Rochester is vying to succeed Sen. Tom Carper, who has held the seat since 2001 in the solidly Democratic state. He is retiring.

Early voting in Delaware began on Saturday.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)