Races to Watch: Groundbreaking LGBT Candidates and Allies

Danica Roem is seeking to make history in Virginia by becoming the first out transgender person elected to the state legislature - and by defeating incumbent Bob Marshall, the body's most outrageously anti-LGBT member. She's running for the House of Delegates from District 13, centered on Prince William County in northern Virginia. A former journalist, she bested three rivals in the Democratic primary in June to advance to Tuesday's general election. Her priorities include improving the area's roads and mass transit, matters she says Marshall has neglected in his 26 years in the legislature to instead focus on trying to ban same-sex marriage and restrict where transgender people go to the restroom. Marshall, a Republican, has made transphobic remarks during the campaign, at one point asking a reporter, "Why do you call Danica a woman? Did Danica's DNA change?" And just last week he told religious right radio host Sandy Rios that transgender people are living a fantasy and defy the laws of nature. Roem has hit back strongly against Marshall, including with an ad in which she says, "There are millions of transgender people in this country and we all deserve representation in government. So when I stand up on the Statehouse floor and the speaker says 'the gentlewoman from Manassas,' LGBTQ kids everywhere will know they can succeed because of who they are, not despite it." She has some high-profile endorsers, such as Victory Fund, the Human Rights Campaign, EMILY's List, and former Vice President Joe Biden.