A former energy executive, Christine Hallquist won the Democratic nomination in the US state of Vermont on Tuesday.
Hallquist defeated James Ehlers, a Navy veteran and environmentalist, and Brenda Siegel, the executive director of a dance festival, to win the Democratic nomination. She also beat out Ethan Sonneborn, 14, a schoolboy who was allowed to stand because the state’s constitution has no age requirement for the governor’s job.
“HISTORY MADE! @christineforvt just became the first trans/non-binary gubernatorial candidate from a major political party in American history!” the Victory Fund, an organization that supports LGBTQ candidates tweeted.
HISTORY MADE! @christineforvt just became the first trans/non-binary gubernatorial candidate from a major political party in American history! Learn more: https://t.co/C1hCE0ZNvF pic.twitter.com/xdzPKK3Run
— Victory Fund (@VictoryFund) August 15, 2018
Hallquist transitioned while heading the Vermont Electricity Coop, several years before launching her gubernatorial bid. In 2015, “Christine made the decision, after years of holding it inside, to come out as her true self, a transgender woman, becoming the first business leader in the country to transition while in office,” reads her campaign’s website.
This year, 43 transgender candidates have run for political office at all levels in the US. But Ms. Hallquist is the first transgender person to win a major party nomination for state governor, according to the BBC.
Hallquist will face the incumbent Republican Governor Phil Scott in the general election in November.