Sarah McBride took the train to Washington D.C. Thursday ahead of her swearing-in ceremony as Delaware’s sole member of Congress.
Her inauguration is set to take place Friday following the election of a Speaker of the House for the 119th Congress.
Current Republican Speaker Mike Johnson has been endorsed for reelection by President-elect Donald Trump, but McBride is not confident his election will go smoothly.
“I certainly hope the Republican conference can get their act together and elect a speaker on the first ballot. We've got a lot of folks in town who are ready for Congress to get to work, but I'm not particularly optimistic that the Republican conference will be able to competently elect a speaker," she said at the Joseph R. Biden Railroad Station.
McBride says she will cast her vote for Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, although Republicans hold the narrowest majority in nearly a century.
When the U.S. House convenes, the partisan divide is expected to be 219 to 215 with the resignation of Republican Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz.
"I'm looking forward as a member-elect to cast my first vote for Hakeem Jeffries to be the next Speaker of the House and to vote for Hakeem Jeffries as many times as the Republican conference's chaos requires us to."
McBride’s historic swearing-in will officially make her the first openly transgender member of Congress.
She has already faced personal attacks against her identity from her Republican colleagues, particularly from South Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace who has introduced an anti-transgender bathroom bill on Capitol Hill.
McBride says Mace’s efforts have not affected her ability to serve the people of Delaware, but rather speak to her Republican colleagues’ professionalism.
"There are always going to be professional provocateurs parading as public officials who want to use the service of other members of Congress — who want to exploit political issues for their own personal political gain to grab attention and headlines, to grandstand. But those members of the Republican caucus, they are not willing to work with any Democrat at this point, and they can barely work with their own Republican members of Congress," she said. “I think when you see those professional provocateurs focus in and obsess on issues like bathrooms and trans rights, it actually undermines their capacity to be effective serious members of Congress. I think they undermine their capacity to effectively serve.”
McBride's swearing-in will take place just days ahead of Jan. 6, where Congress will certify the 2024 Presidential Election results.
Following the attacks on the Capitol in 2021 during the previous presidential election certification, as well as this year's deadly New Year's terror attack in New Orleans, McBride says elected officials must denounce acts of violence.
"Sadly, in our country, we have seen the normalization of political violence over the last several years. We've seen far too many examples targeting both Democrats and Republicans, of individuals who have sought to take our political disagreements and solve them, not at the ballot box, but with violence. It is unacceptable, it is dangerous, it is a threat to our democracy. And I think elected officials of every background have to make abundantly clear that there is absolutely no room for violence, period, full stop."
McBride says she is ready to get to work, noting she has hired a full team and has already been building relationships with her fellow members of Congress.
"Over the last several weeks, I've continued to attend critical events and meetings. I participated in my final session of the Delaware State Senate, and I've been listening to Delawareans about the issues that I know are top of mind for them, and that's specifically lowering the costs facing workers, retirees and their families when it comes to vital areas of life like housing, healthcare and childcare. Those issues will be my focus in Washington, just as they've been my focus in Dover in the Delaware State Senate."
Senator-elect Lisa Blunt Rochester will also be sworn in, officially succeeding retiring Sen. Tom Carper after over 50 years in public service.
Blunt Rochester will join Delaware's Senior Sen. Chris Coons, completing the First State's three-person federal delegation.
