Danica Roem

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About

Danica Roem is an American state legislator in Virginia. In late 2017, she was elected to Virginia's House of Delegates, making her set to be the first openly transperson to be elected to a United States state legislature.

History

Danica Roem began her career as a journalist for the Gainseville Times and the Prince William Times, winning the Virginia Press Assication award as the lead reporter for both publications.^[1]

In January 2017, Roem announced her candidacy for the 13th District of the Virginia House of Delegates, receiving more than 1,000 donations, the highest of any candidate, between April 1st and June 1st, 2013.^[2] On June 13th, 2017, Roem won the primary contest to challenge Republican delegate Robert G. Marshall of Prince William Virginia, a 25-year incumbent, for his house seat.

On November 7th, Danica Roem beat Marshall for his seat to become Virginia's first openly transgender lawmaker.^[3]

Reputation

Roem has been described as more interested in issues than her own gender identity. In an interview with Mother Jones,^[4] she said:

"Transgender people have really good public policy ideas that span the gamut of transportation policy to health care policy to education policy, and yes, to civil rights as well. We shouldn’t just be pigeonholed into the idea that we’re just going to be fighting about bathrooms."

The New York Times^[5] jokingly described her commitment to policy and helping her constituents as "boring," characterizing her focus on logistics and local issues.

On November 8th, 2017, Twitter user @BlyTarbell tweeted, "When asked about Bob Marshall, Danica Roem said 'I don't attack my constituents. Bob is my constituent now.' She has more grace and composure than I will ever have." The post (shown below) receive more than 23,000 retweets and 107,000 likes.