This is a list of openly transgender, intersex, and nonbinary officeholders by office. The first transgender public officeholder in the United States was Joanne Marie Conte, elected to Arvada, Colorado's City Council in 1991. The highest officeholders are currently Sarah McBride of the Delaware State Senate and Danica Roem of the Virginia State Senate.
This list is arranged chronologically by politicians' first years in each office. Some officeholders listed were not elected while out as transgender and either came out or were outed at a later date.
This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by expanding it with reliably sourced entries.
As of 2021, 77 transgender, non-binary, intersex, and genderqueer officials served in public elected positions.[1] This represented a nearly fivefold increase from 2018, when only 16 openly transgender individuals had been elected to office in the United States.[2] On November 7, 2017, eight transgender individuals were elected to public office. This is the most transgender individuals elected to office in a single day.[3]
| Nonpartisan office | Hawai’i Board of Education | 2006–2011 | [4] | ||||
| Appointed position | Commissioner, Nevada Equal Rights Commission | 2012–present | Scott was also the first openly transgender person to win a Republican primary election for a state legislative office, running for the Nevada Assembly's 30th District in 2014.[5] |
| Republican | Massachusetts House of Representatives, 5th Suffolk district | 1993–1995 | Garrison is the first transgender person to serve in a state legislature, but she was not openly transgender when first elected in 1992. She was later outed while in office.[6] Garrison later served in the Boston City Council by appointment to fill a vacancy in 2018.[7] | |||||
| Democratic | New Hampshire House of Representatives, Ward 4 | 2012 (elected only, not served) | Though Laughton was the first openly transgender person elected to a state legislature in 2012, she was forced to resign prior to inauguration after past felonies became public.[8] | |||||
| New Hampshire House of Representatives, District 31 | 2020–2022 | She ran again and won in 2020,[9] and won her reelection in 2022, but she ultimately resigned in December 2022 after being arrested for stalking.[10] She has since been arrested again, this time for felony distribution of child sexual abuse images.[11] | ||||||
| Democratic | New Hampshire House of Representatives, 11th Merrimack district (formerly 22nd Merrimack) | 2012–present | Came out as transgender after her most recent re-election (2022).[12] | |||||
| Democratic | Virginia Senate, 30th district | 2024–present | First openly transgender person to be elected and served in a state legislature in 2017; first transgender state senator elected in the Southern United States in 2023; first openly transgender person to serve in both houses of a state legislature in 2024.[13] [14] | |||||
| Virginia House of Delegates, 13th district | 2018–2024 | |||||||
| Democratic | Colorado House of Representatives, 27th district | 2019–present | [15] | |||||
| Democratic | New Hampshire House of Representatives, Strafford 18th district (now 12th district) | 2018–present | [16] [17] | |||||
| Democratic | New Hampshire House of Representatives, Rockingham 18th District | 2018–present | ||||||
| Democratic | Delaware Senate | 2021–present | First transgender member of a state Senate, elected in November 2020.[18] [19] | |||||
| Democratic | Kansas House of Representatives, 86th district | 2021–2023 | The first openly trans woman of color[20] to serve in and to be elected to a state legislature and the first Native American trans person to hold elected office in the United States.[21] [22] | |||||
| Democratic, Progressive | Vermont House of Representatives, Chittenden 6–7 district (now Chittenden-21) | 2021–present | [23] | |||||
| Democratic | Oklahoma State House of Representatives, district 88 | 2021–present | The first non-binary state legislator and the only current transgender state legislator of color.[24] | |||||
| Democratic | Montana House of Representatives, district 100 | 2023–present | She is the first openly transgender elected official in the Montana Legislature.[25] [26] | |||||
| Democratic (DFL) | Minnesota House of Representatives, District 66A | 2023–present | She is the first openly transgender elected official in the Minnesota Legislature.[25][26][27] | |||||
| Democratic | New Hampshire House of Representatives, 22nd | 2023–present | He is the first transgender man elected to a state legislature.[28] [29] | |||||
| Democratic | Montana House of Representatives, District 95 | 2023–present | Became the first nonbinary state legislator in Montana when they were elected.[30] |
| Stu Rasmussen | Nonpartisan office | Silverton, Oregon | Mayor | 2009–2015 | First transgender mayor in the United States.[31] She had served as mayor of Willamette Valley in the 1990s, before coming out as transgender.[32] She was also three times a member of the city council.[33] | |||
| Jess Herbst | Nonpartisan office | New Hope, Texas | Mayor | 2016–2018 | Herbst became the first openly transgender mayor in Texas in 2016 when the then-mayor died days before the election, but still won. Herbst, who was Mayor pro-tem, was then appointed to the position. She came out as transgender after being appointed to the office.[34] [35] | |||
| Betsy Driver | Democratic | Flemington, New Jersey | Mayor | 2019–2023 | She is the first openly intersex person elected mayor in the United States.[36] Also was the first intersex person elected to any political office when elected to town council in 2017.[37] | |||
| Lisa Middleton | Democratic | Palm Springs, California | Mayor | 2021–2022 | [38] |
| Joanne Marie Conte | None | Arvada, Colorado | City Council | 1991–1995 | Conte is considered the first openly transgender person elected to public office in the United States.[39] [40] | |||
| Michelle Bruce | Riverdale, Georgia | City Council | 2004–2008 | Bruce was sued by her political opponents for fraud because she allegedly misled voters concerning her gender. The Georgia Supreme Court ruled in favor of Bruce.[41] [42] | ||||
| Claire Elizabeth Hall | None | Lincoln County, Oregon | County Commissioner | 2004–present | Hall transitioned in June 2018 during her fourth term as commissioner and was since re-elected in 2020.[43] [44] | |||
| Jessica Orsini | Centralia, Missouri | Alderwoman | 2006–2010 | [45] [46] | ||||
| Vered Meltzer | Appleton, Wisconsin | City Council, District 2 | 2014–present | [47] [48] | ||||
| Democratic | Hiawatha, Iowa | City Council | 2016–present | The first openly trans woman elected to government in Iowa.[49] Re-elected in 2019.[50] | ||||
| Democratic | Flemington, New Jersey | Town Council | 2017–2019 | First intersex person elected to public office in the U.S. Also served as mayor of Flemington, 2019–2023.[51] | ||||
| Democratic (DFL) | Minneapolis, Minnesota | City Council, Ward 4 | 2018–2022 | First openly trans man of color to be elected to office.[52] | ||||
| Democratic (DFL) | Minneapolis, Minnesota | City Council, Ward 8 | Council member (2018–present) Council President (2022–2024) | Became the first openly transgender black woman to be elected to office in 2017.[53] | ||||
| Doraville, Georgia | City Council, 3rd District | 2018–present | First openly transgender person elected in Georgia[54] [55] | |||||
| Palm Springs, California | City Council (member at-large, 2017–2020; 5th district, 2020–present) | 2017–present | Also served as mayor of Palm Springs in 2021. | |||||
| Independent | Boston, Massachusetts | Boston City Council, member at-large | 2019–2020 | Appointed as the at-large representative when Ayanna Pressley was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2018. She had previously served in the Massachusetts House in the 1990s. | ||||
| Kathryn Ottersten | None[56] | Fairbanks, Alaska | City Council, Seat D | 2019–2020 | Ottersten was the first openly intersex person elected in Alaska.[57] [58] | |||
| Liz Lyke | Fairbanks North Star Borough | Borough Assembly | 2020–2024 | |||||
| Veronica Pejril | Greencastle, Indiana | Common Council | 2020–2024 | The first openly transgender elected official in Indiana.[59] Currently running for Indiana State Senate, District 24.[60] | ||||
| Donna Price | Democratic | Albemarle County, Virginia | Board of Supervisors, Scottsville Magisterial District | Vice-chair, 2020–2024 Chair, 2024–present | The first transgender supervisor and second elected public official in the State. Elected November 2019.[61] [62] | |||
| Democratic | Wheeling, West Virginia | City Council | 2020–present | The first out trans person to be elected to public office in West Virginia, elected in June 2020.[63] | ||||
| Christopher Kalcich (born) | Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania | Borough Council | 2021–present | The first transgender elected official in Snyder County and Central Pennsylvania.[64] [65] | ||||
| Ashley Shade | North Adams, Massachusetts | City Council, at-large | 2022–present | [66] | ||||
| Clare Killman | Carbondale, Illinois | City Council | 2023–present | Killman is the first transgender city council member in the state of Illinois.[67] | ||||
| Nashville and Davidson County, Tennessee | Metropolitan Council | 2023–present | Hill is the first transgender elected official in Tennessee.[68] | |||||
| Dina Nina Martinez-Rutherford | None | Madison, Wisconsin | Common Council | 2023–present | The first openly transgender woman elected in Wisconsin.[69] [70] | |||
| Evelyn Rios Stafford | Democratic | Washington County, Arkansas | Justice of the Peace | 2021–present | First trans woman elected in Arkansas and one of first elected Latina women in the state[71] |
| Victoria Kolakowski | Alameda County, California | Superior Court Judge | 2011–present | Considered the first transgender person elected judge.[72] |
| Tucson, Arizona | Commissioner of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Commission | 2001–? | Later was elected or appointed to many different positions, including a Precinct Committee.[73] [74] | ||||
| Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Operational Energy | 2015–2017 | ||||||
| San Francisco, California | Chair of the LGBT Advisory Committee, San Francisco Human Rights Commission | 2001–? | [75] [76] [77] | ||||
| Commissioner, San Francisco Police Commission | 2004–2007 | ||||||
| President, San Francisco Police Commission | 2007–? | ||||||
| Charlton, Massachusetts | Board of Trustees of the Public Library | 2016–? | [78] | ||||
| Jay Irwin | Ralston, Nebraska | School Board member | 2016–? | First openly trans man to be elected to office.[79] | |||
| Democratic (D) | Somersworth, New Hampshire | School Board member | 2017–2018 | Currently serving in the New Hampshire House of Representatives.[80] [81] | |||
| Tyler Titus | Erie, Pennsylvania | School Board member | 2018–2020 | The first openly transgender person elected in Pennsylvania.[82] | |||
| School Board chief | 2020–? | ||||||
| Brandy Fortson | Corvallis, Oregon | School Board member | 2019–present | They are nonbinary.[83] | |||
| Monika Nemeth | Washington, D.C. | Commissioner, Advisory Neighborhood Commission, 3F06 | 2018–? | She is the first trans person to hold public office in Washington, D.C.[84] | |||
| Hayden Gise | Washington, D.C. | Commissioner, Advisory Neighborhood Commission, 3C01 | 2022–present | Second Trans person to hold public office in Washington, D.C.[85] | |||
| Rebecca Blankenship | Berea, Kentucky | School Board member | 2022–present | She is the first openly transgender elected official in Kentucky.[86] | |||
| Dion Manley | Nonpartisan | Franklin County, Ohio | Gahanna-Jefferson School Board member | 2022–present | The first transgender elected official in Ohio.[87] [88] |
| Traci Baker | Libertarian | Oklahoma | Secretary, Libertarian Party of Oklahoma | 2018 | ||||
| Blaizen Bloom | rowspan=2 | Green | Virginia | Press-secretary, Green Party of Virginia | 2020 | 2021 | Non-binary and gender fluid[94] [95] | |
| Non-Male Cochair, Green Party of Virginia | 2021 | present | ||||||
| Pluto Brand | rowspan=2 | Green | Indiana | Vice chair, Indiana Green Party | 2018 | 2020 | First Trans/Intersex person to be the leader of a state political party in Indiana[96] | |
| State chair, Indiana Green Party | 2020 | present | ||||||
| Democratic | Florida | Vice president, Florida Democratic Party LGBTQ+ Caucus | 2023 | present | [97] | |||
| Democratic | Oregon | Democratic National Committee member | 2013 | [98] | ||||
| Émilia Decaudin | rowspan=2 | Democratic | New York | Democratic District Leader, 37th State Assembly District | 2020 | present |
| |
| New York State Democratic Committee member | 2018 | 2020 | ||||||
| Democratic | California | 3rd Vice Chair, San Francisco Democratic County Central Committee, 17th District | 2020 | First Black transgender person elected in California[100] | ||||
| Rachel Nyx | Libertarian | California | Vice Chair, Libertarian Party of California | 2021 | present | First openly transgender person elected Vice Chair of a state party in California[101] | ||
| Michelle Risher | Democratic | Oregon | Chair, Democratic Party of Oregon (DPO)'s Stonewall (LGBTQ+) Caucus | 2017 | 2019 | She is the first transgender person elected as a first, senior, or second vice-chair of a state or territorial Democratic party and the first to be next in the line of succession to the party chair[102] | ||
| Vice-chair, DPO | 2019 | |||||||
| Ashley Shade | rowspan=2 | Libertarian | Massachusetts | Treasurer, Massachusetts Libertarian Party | 2019 | 2021 |
| |
| Chair, Massachusetts Libertarian Party | 2021 | present | ||||||
| Democratic | New Jersey | Democratic National Committee member | 2009 | 2017 | [104] [105] | |||
| Melissa Sklarz | Democratic | New York | Democratic District Leader, 30th State Assembly District | 2020 | present | With Émilia Decaudin, first openly transgender district leaders in New York State | ||
| Boudicca Walsh | Democratic | Washington | Chair, Thurston County Democrats | 2017 | [106] | |||
| Democratic | Arizona | Vice-chair, Democratic Party of Arizona | 2019 | present | She is the first transgender person elected a vice-chair of a state Democratic Party.[107] | |||
| Venn Sage Wylde | Democratic | Oregon | 2003 (overall committee membership) 2018 (as a "committeeperson") | present | They are nonbinary. Following their filing, the County Elections Director determined that the county would add a third column for "committeeperson" to the year's primary ballot, which previously only had space for "committeeman" and "committeewoman."[108] [109] |