some made their way through the narrow alleys of an arab neighbourhood, waving flags and chanting slogans. the palestinian red cross said more than 70 people were injured in clashes. now on bbc news stephen sackur is in washington with hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk from washington. i m stephen sackur. the received political wisdom here is that economic issues pretty much decide elections, and that may be true in this midterm election year because of a dramatic spike in the cost of living. and yet, there is a sense here that right now, values and culture are at the centre of the political argument. my guest today is danica roem, a democrat and the first transgender person to take a seat in a state legislature. what does her story tell us about america s culture wars? danica roem, welcome to hardtalk. thank you so much. it s good to see you. it s great to have you on the show. now, when you won your election back in 2017 to become a state legislator in virginia. mm hm. ..you we
my guest today is danica roem, a democrat and the first transgender person to take a seat in a state legislature. what does her story tell us about america s culture wars? danica roem, welcome to hardtalk. thank you so much. it s good to see you. it s great to have you on the show. now, when you won your election back in 2017 to become a state legislator in virginia. mm hm. ..you were seen across america as a trailblazer. do you still feel like that trailblazer? well, so, here s the thing. i don t try to put, you know, that title to myself. when other people ascribe it to me, that s fine. that s their interpretation. myjob is to make sure that i m fixing route 28, that i m taking care of health insurance for my constituents and really taking care of those day to day basics. and, while i m doing that, if i m able to inspire other trans people to step up and run for office, great. and when i was sworn in to the virginia house of delegates onjanuary 10th, 2018, for my first of w
Congressman, the issues were all watching besides trump is issue of the confederate statues. 3 of 5 people in virginia including all races and genders were for keeping the statues the way they are, dont want changes, yet that was position of gillespie the republican. Position of the democratic candidate northam was get them all down. Thats how he started anyway. Says to me, voters said thats where i am on this issue, didnt vote on this issue. It was not the issue. But gillespie and trump. Gillespie didnt know who trump was in Northern Virginia but ran a Television Ad campaign that absolutely invoked worst of the trump campaign. Southerner . This time it didnt work. Catholic guy who grew up in new jersey running down there waving the flag of stonewall
a controversial president in byelection. Anybody with any problems with the government party, any problem they lay on you. Right . Absolutely right. You take all the hell with trumps name on it. And historically thats how virginia performs
trans people to step up and run for office, great. and when i was sworn in to the virginia house of delegates onjanuary 10th, 2018, for my first of what s now three terms, you know, that day, i was the only out and seated trans state legislator in the country. and now, here we are, fast forward to 2022, now there s eight of us. take me back to early 2017 and being sworn in as the first transgender elected legislator to take a seat in a state legislature. yeah. so it was. so i was. so i kicked off my first campaign onjanuary 3rd, 2017, and 53 weeks later, onjanuary 10th, 2018, that s when i was sworn in to the house of delegates, and i had to win a four way democratic primary first in june of 2017. and then i took on a 13 term incumbent. he had been in office for 26 years since i was seven years old and he was the self described chief homophobe of virginia. and i want to stop you there
a 13 term incumbent. he had been in office for 26 years since i was seven years old and he was the self described chief homophobe of virginia. and i want to stop you there because that interests me. now, you say to me, ijust wanted to prove myself as a regular politician who could deliver for my constituents on everything from roads to refuse collection, but surely. regular is a strong word! well, yes. surely there was a very direct personal motivation for you to take that opponent on, as a transgender person. right, well, here s the thing, you could ascribe that for any bit of my identity. you don t get too many transgender, heavy metal, you know, vocalist, reporter, step mom, you know, vegetarian yoginis running for office, right? let alone when they re unemployed, uninsured and driving a 92 dodge shadow that s worth $321; that s got more rust than paint. that s how i kicked off my first campaign. and part of that was also to demonstrate to people, like, hey, you know what? el