On Tuesday evening, Andrea Jenkins won her seat as a Minneapolis City Council member and made history, as the first openly transgender woman of color elected to public office in the United States, according to The Hill.Â
Jenkins work in public office began as a policy aide for the council’s Vice President. She used her experience to win Minneapolis’s Eighth Ward and ran on the platform of addressing youth violence and improving the south-central ward’s neighborhoods, according to The Washington Post. Jenkins also worked with local business investors, advocates and artists to redevelop the intersection of E. 38th Street and. Chicago Avenue S.Â
And because of her work and track record, Jenkins won her seat by more than 70 percent of the vote, according to the Star Tribune in Minnesota.Â
Joining Danica Roem, the other trans woman politician who defeated an incumbent who described himself as a “chief homophobe” for a seat in the Virginia State legislature, Jenkins’ victory comes as a reminder that marginalized voices have always been politically engaged and have always been deserving of a seat at the table.Â
“Transgender people have been here forever, and black transgender people have been here forever,” Jenkins told The Washington Post. “I’m really proud to have achieved that status, and I look forward to more trans people joining me in elected office, and all other kinds of leadership roles in our society.”