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Two transgender women will be the first openly trans candidates to run for Congress through a major party this fall after winning their Democratic primaries.
Utah’s Misty Snow and Colorado’s Misty Plowright won their respective Democratic primaries on Tuesday. Snow will run against Sen. Mike Lee, a Utah Republican, and Plowright will face Rep. Doug Lamborn, a Colorado Republican, Louis Nelson reported for Politico.
Nelson reported further details about the two women’s records:
Snow, a 30-year-old grocery store clerk from Salt Lake City, beat her primary opponent by nearly 20 percentage points. She ran to the left of her more moderate opponent Jonathan Swinton, criticizing him for supporting limitations on abortion rights, according to a Salt Lake Tribune report.
Plowright, who is 33 years old and works in IT, was similarly successful in her district, located near Colorado Springs, Colorado. She earned the Democratic nomination there by winning more than 13,000 votes while her opponent earned just over 9,600.
Snow and Plowright’s chances of winning may not be very high. Lee won his election in 2010 by nearly 29 points, and Lamborn won reelection in 2014 by nearly 20 points. It’s also generally difficult to defeat incumbents in American politics.
But whether they win or not, Snow and Plowright have already made history — reaching an important LGBTQ milestone as transgender issues get increasingly more attention in America.
