Tran Candidates For US Elections

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Here's a very interesting article that I wanted to share

"Trans Candidates Are Poised to Make History in 2018 Elections

Across the nation, transgender candidates in the 2018 races are breaking barriers as they run for higher office...."

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trans-candidates-are-poised-to...

Comments

I wish them well.

Although I'm 3000+ miles away from the USA, I hope that at least a few get elected and that they can overcome the inevitable bigotry and make a difference.

For those who can vote, please do so and make sure that people who protect and even promote LGBT rights get elected.
Samantha.

I wonder if their opponents' attack ads will "go there"

laika's picture

In an era when no personal attack seems
too dirty, ugly or evil to be used in American politics
I could imagine these candidates being attacked simply for being trans:

"Candidate Joe Blow---who calls himself Josephine---can't even tell if he's a man or a woman. Is this really someone you want representing you in congress? And what sort of message is this person's confused lifestyle sending our state's CHILDREN? Vote for sanity. Vote for Bob So-and-so. He has a penis."

I would love to be proven wrong but all I see are dark times ahead.
~Veronica
.

(And notice how I didn't use real names; either of political figures or parties.
It's the only way to keep this whole thread---if there is one---from being removed...)

It'll backfire badly...

It'll backfire badly...

Getting dirty is the last thing any candidate's people want to do, especially when it's something so toxic to campaigns as race, creed, sex, or gender. They will do whatever they have to do to keep the outside interests, AKA the SuperPACs that are the backbone of campaigns, from going there. If it does end up going there for a candidate, s/he will be on the defensive and will likely see themselves in a tight race that won't get help from the national party no matter how the majority of the higher-ups in the party feel.

I'm told STFU more times in a day than most people get told in a lifetime

It's been done

Patricia Marie Allen's picture

If memory serves a transgender woman -- seems to me it was Detroit, or Chicago -- who as run several time and finally managed to attain office when her only opponent suffered some debilitating condition and dropped out at the last minute had been maligned in that very way. I'm foggy on this part, but it also seems to me it was a woman of color.

Hugs
Patricia

Happiness is being all dressed up and HAVING some place to go.
Semper in femineo gerunt

Sounds like it was Althea

Sounds like it was Althea Garrison. And it happened in Boston in 1993 after she was elected in the 1992 state representative election.

She was the target of an investigation that uncovered her past, she has never admitted that she is transgender. Her issue with losing in 1994 during the next state election wasn't that she was transgender, it's that she is just so damn unlikable as a person and went against the majority of her district. She was only elected because she ran against a last minute replacement after she knocked her opponent off of the ballot. It didn't work the next time around, she lost ouright

Her loss had nothing to do with her being transgender, it was due to her being a black republican in a heavily black democratic stronghold district. She lost when facing off against a candidate that is perennially elected by that district.

As an aside, she might finally end up "elected" again. One of the Boston City Council at-large members is running for Congress and if she wins the Democratic primary September 4th she will win the office outright on November 6th. Ms. Garrison will then automatically be appointed to replace her as per our laws, as the next-highest finisher in the previous municipal election for an at-large council seat, she is appointed as the replacement for the rest of the term. It's a long shot, but with the way established candidates have been ousted in primaries it could very well happen...

Last minute add: she's currently running in a special election to recover the seat that she last in 1994 thanks to the former representative being appointed as the new Suffolk County District Attorney. It's entirely possible that she wins, but I'm not holding out much hope due to the same reason she lost in 1994: it's a democrat stronghold and she doesn't fit the mold.

I'm told STFU more times in a day than most people get told in a lifetime

They could very easily 'go there'...

but not in any way that was traceable back to the candidate directly. An out of state PAC could easily do opposition research, discover that Joe Blow is now Josephine, and roll out the manure spreaders.

"This political ad not paid for or authorized by any candidate or re-election committee."

Politics is just as dirty, nasty and down in the gutter as it always has been. Not even the candidate's children are safe from threats, nasty reporters and so called 'news' organizations.

There's hope!

It might be too much to ask just yet... but the real sea change may be when the first openly trans Republican woman, man or binary runs for (and wins) a significant position... making such labeling utterly irrelevant!

"Yes M President, your seams are indeed straight... and quite lovely if I may be so bold."

I don’t see it

The current drive of the Republican party is reactionary and want to turn back the clock. We can’t serve openly in the military ? Please correct me if I am wrong.