Eight years after the Philippines House of Representatives welcomed its first transgender person as member, State Sen. Sarah McBride will become the first transgender woman to be elected to federal office in the United States as Delaware’s next representative to the US Congress.

McBride is a Democrat and an incumbent state legislator who defeated Republican bet John Whalen in the congressional race held Tuesday, news reports revealed.

She will replace Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester who is set to take the place of US Sen. Tom Carper.

McBride’s election to the US Congress came eight years after the First Congressional District of Bataan elected Rep. Geraldine Roman to a seat in the Philippine Lower House.

Roman is the first transgender person elected to the Philippine Congress. She is serving her third and final term as congresswoman for the 19th Congress where she is the chairperson of the Committees on Veterans Affairs and Welfare and on Women and Gender Equality.

McBride was first elected to political office as Delaware senator in 2020, becoming the first transperson to win a political seat in the US.

While many expected her to be the voice of the LGBTQ+ sector, McBride said her legislative priorities are for the passage of statewide family and medical leave legislation.

The Delaware News Journal reporter that McBride has stressed that she will pursue important issues instead of becoming “a spokesperson for a movement.”

“I am not running to be known for any one aspect of my identity,” McBride said in a news interview.

She added: “I’m running to be Delaware’s member of Congress focused on all of the issues that matter.”

Roman, on other hand, has been a strong advocate of LGBTQ+ rights in the Philippines.

She has authored the bill so-called SOGIE Equality Bill, a measure against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.

The Bataan lawmaker also supported the same sex civil union proposal and the bill proposing to reinstate the death penalty in the country.

Now 57, Roman is the first transgender military officer and reservist of the Armed Forces of the Philippines with the rank of lieutenant colonel.

She underwent sex reassignment surgery and had her name changed through a court petition. Her parents, the late Rep. Antonino Roman and Rep. Herminia Roman, also served as lawmakers representing Bataan.