PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY, Virginia (LifeSiteNews) – A transgender political candidate won a seat in Virginia’s legislature tonight, making history for LGBT and left-wing activists and defeating one of the commonwealth’s staunchest social conservative delegates.
Incumbent Del. Bob Marshall, a Republican, lost to Democrat Daniel “Danica” Roem, a man who purports to be a woman. Roem will represent Virginia’s 13th district, making him the first-ever transgender state legilsator.
“This is what happens when the radical transgender lobby pours more than $600,000 into a small state race and conservative donors largely sit the race out — Democrats cruise to victory and claim a mandate on an issue they were too afraid to outwardly campaign on,” said Terry Schilling, Executive Director of American Principles Project. “Delegate Marshall ran an incredible race and did the best he could, but ultimately, with the news media cheering hard for Danica Roem and the transgender lobby purchasing a small state race for the absurd price of $60 per vote, defeat was inevitable.”
Political pundits called this the “race of the year.” Marshall has an impressive record of defending life and marriage and the laws protecting them. Roem stressed during his campaign that “it’s time for us to take out those parts of our state code that still make us a regressive place.”
Roem won the Democratic primary and launched an aggressive campaign against Marshall, who for 25 years represented Virginia’s 13th district.
As Northern Virginia has become more liberal over the past few years, Marshall has had to fight to keep his seat. Marshall’s Prince William County and Manassas City Park district, usually more conservative than closer-in D.C. suburbs, has also swung more “blue.”
Hillary Clinton won Virginia’s 13th district in 2016.
Roem campaigned on a platform of transgender sex education for kindergarteners. He released a campaign video about how his “identity shouldn’t be a big deal.”
In this ad, Roem takes female sex hormones and puts on makeup while his voiceover says “this is just who I am. There are millions of transgender people and we all deserve representation in government.”
Roem said his election would inspire “LGBTQ kids everywhere will know they can succeed because of who they are, not despite it.”
Marshall is a seasoned social conservative who has defended life, family, and religious freedom in the Virginia legislature. Marshall refused to incorrectly call Roem a “woman” during the campaign, saying, “You can change appearances, but your DNA fixes your bodily structures for your entire life.”
Roem legally changed his name from Daniel to “Danica.” Virginia legally classifies him as a woman because the commonwealth doesn’t have an objective requirement for sex changes.
Roem fundraised five times as much as Marshall. The national LGBT lobby threw its support behind him. Groups like the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund and the Human Rights Campaign supported Roem.
Throughout his time in the legislature, Marshall has defended pro-life laws, supported bathroom privacy rather than sexless shared bathrooms in schools, and opposed allowing gender-confused individuals in the military. He proposed an anti-porn resolution declaring pornography a health crisis.
Marshall also sponsored a bill that apparently would have forbidden judges in Virginia from applying Islamic Shariah law rather than U.S. law.