House Democrats and their leadership are particularly concerned that one first-term lawmaker, Sarah McBride, will need an extra level of security as she becomes the first openly transgender member of Congress.
Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries had previously acknowledged that McBride’s security would need to be addressed following the November election, especially as Republicans hammered on anti-trans messaging this cycle. But the Republican in charge of security said that McBride hadn’t come up yet.
Rep. Bryan Steil, chair of the House Administration Committee, which handles congressional security, told reporters on Tuesday that the committee is trying to “stay ahead of any potential threats that are out there.” However, Steil — who is hoping to remain committee chair next term — told NOTUS that no conversations have been had on McBride’s security because “nobody’s brought it to my attention.” McBride told NOTUS in October that when she announced her candidacy for Delaware’s at-large seat, the state Capitol, where she currently serves as state senator, had to increase security.
McBride is coming into Congress during an incredibly hostile time for the trans community. President-elect Donald Trump focused relentlessly (and spent millions) on anti-trans messaging during the campaign, as did Republican Senate and House candidates. Threats toward lawmakers in general have risen sharply over the last few years, and several high-profile members of Congress have had to increase their personal security.
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It’s not just her physical safety that’s a concern: McBride is also likely to find hostility coming from her new colleagues.
Already on Tuesday, when asked whether there had been discussions around McBride’s arrival to the House, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene misgendered and referred to McBride by the name she used before transitioning. Greene said that no conversations about McBride had been had within the GOP conference.
Anti-trans attitudes and safety concerns are not unfamiliar for trans people in office, several former and current state lawmakers who are trans told NOTUS.
“I would assume that her time in Congress will be like pretty much any of us have felt in state legislatures. … The litany of hate email, the litany of threats and then trying to decipher which are serious and which are just someone’s scouting things — it’s difficult, to say the least,” said former Kansas state Rep. Stephanie Byers.
But McBride, Colorado state Rep. Brianna Titone said, is “very prepared.” Titone told NOTUS, though, that in the Delaware state Capitol, McBride was working in a Democratic supermajority and that won’t be the case in Congress: “D.C. is a whole other world,” adding that the anti-trans rhetoric in state legislatures “pales in comparison” to what lawmakers have said in Congress.
“What I worry about, more than anything, is what goes on outside of D.C. and the Capitol for Sarah, not necessarily what goes on in the Capitol because that stuff is performative,” Titone told NOTUS. “But what happens outside with citizens who are trying to go after people? That’s where I worry about any trans legislator at this point in time, is how ginned up and angry have people gotten at this point on this issue that they are willing to take their matters into their own hands.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson doesn’t exactly have a history of disciplining House Republicans who don’t maintain decorum in or outside of the chamber. For instance, he defended Rep. Clay Higgins after Higgins posted and then deleted a racist tweet about Haitian immigrants and distanced himself from Rep. Tim Burchett when Burchett referred to Kamala Harris as a “DEI hire.”
When asked by NOTUS if he would reprimand GOP members who would purposely offend or insult McBride, Johnson said, “We’re welcoming all new members.”
Rep. Sara Jacobs, co-chair of the Congressional Equality Caucus’ Transgender Equality Task Force, said she hoped Republican leadership would stand up to their members for McBride if they needed to, but it’s “so hard to know with them.”
At orientation, McBride praised Democratic leadership as “incredibly supportive … thoughtful and caring” throughout her campaign and with her arrival in Washington.
She added that there have been conversations “with all new members about the security protocols in Congress” but did not discuss any specific arrangements for herself.
Some of McBride’s longtime friends aren’t worried that she won’t be able to handle whatever happens.
“I absolutely trust her in every regard to comport herself in a way that her constituents expect their member of Congress to do. That doesn’t mean the treatment she will experience will be fair. It doesn’t,” said Virginia state Sen. Danica Roem, who said she has known McBride for years. “Other people are going to act however they’re going to act, and then you know what she’s going to be? She’s going to be graceful. She’s not going to go out of her way to make a scene.”
Correction: Danica Roem is a Virgina state senator, not a representative.
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Oriana González is a reporter at NOTUS.
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