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Danica Roem becomes America’s first transgender state-level politician

Transgender woman Danica Roem was elected in Virginia on Wednesday.

Transgender woman Danica Roem was elected in Virginia on Wednesday. Photo: AP

A veteran American politician who once called himself Virginia’s “chief homophobe” has been thrown out of office – after losing to the first transgender person ever elected to a US state legislature.

Democratic candidate Danica Roem defeated 13-term Republican Robert Marshall to win a seat in Virginia’s House of Delegates in a twist of fate some observers described as “karma”.

Mr Marshall, 73, who made the “chief homophobe” reference in 2006 during a debate over same-sex marriage, had been in office since 1992.

He recently failed in an attempt to pass a law similar to North Carolina’s transgender bathroom legislation, which requires people to use the bathroom that corresponds to the gender on their original birth certificate.

“A message of inclusion and equality resonated here,” Ms Roem, 33, told US cable network MSNBC hours after she claimed 54 per cent of the vote.

The election was seen by some as a referendum on LGBTI rights, with advocates from across the country showering Ms Roem’s campaign with donations.

But Ms Roem said on Wednesday she had gotten into the race because of local issues in her home of Manassas, a city in northern Virginia, such as schools and infrastructure.

The former newspaper journalist said her campaign’s message had been “building up our infrastructure instead of tearing down each other”.

“If you read my platform, it said, ‘traffic, jobs, schools and equality’.”

Her election comes a few weeks after a US court blocked President Donald Trump’s move to institute a ban on transgender people serving in the military, which he first announced on Twitter in July.

During the campaign, Republican Party of Virginia paid for a mailed leaflet that repeatedly referred to Ms Roem as a man. Mr Marshall also referred to his opponent using the male pronoun throughout the contest.

“No matter what you look like, where you come from, how you worship, who you love, how you identify, or any other inherent identifier that you have, you should be celebrated because of who you are, not despite it,” Ms Roem told MSNBC on Wednesday.

Emotional win for gun control advocate

The outcome capped off a successful night for the Democrats, which also won the key Virginia gubernatorial race in a result widely viewed as a blow to Mr Trump’s presidency.

Ms Roem’s triumph was also not the only remarkable personal story to emerge from the eastern US state on Wednesday.

Also victorious was former journalist Chris Hurst, whose girlfriend, 24-year-old journalist Alison Parker, was shot dead live on television in 2015 while presenting a story.

chris hurst

Democrat Christ Hurst was a television reporter in Virginia before entering politics. Photo: AP

Running as a Democrat and on a platform of gun control, Mr Hurst, 30, will join Ms Roem’s in Virginia’s state legislature after he defeated National Rifle Association-backed Republican incumbent Joseph Yost. Mr Hurst won 54 per cent of the vote to win.

In an op-ed for The Daily Beast in February, Mr Hurst revealed his motivation for leaving work at the TV station WDBJ, where he had worked with Ms Parker.

“In 2015, my girlfriend Alison Parker was executed on live TV,” he wrote. “Now, I’m leaving my career at the station where she worked to fight for the causes she and I value the most.”

Mr Hurst’s colleague Adam Ward was also killed in the shooting, which was reportedly watched live by about 40,000 people.

Gun control remains a deeply divisive issue in the US, where there is at least one mass shooting per day on average.

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