On December 7, our trans Rep. Sarah McBride (D-DE) posted a video celebrating Delaware Day, the anniversary of Delaware becoming the first state in the union by ratifying the Constitution in 1787.
The lighthearted video shows McBride joking around with her colleagues about how Delaware is the best state as she furiously distributes flyers about its anniversary across the Capitol.
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And her opening line subtly addresses the country’s obsession with her trans identity, which she has refused to let get in the way of her legislative duties.
“If there is one identity that everyone associates with me, it’s that I’m a Delawarean,” she jokes, smiling big for the camera. “A proud and true stateriot,” a neologism of the words “state” and “patriot.”
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The moment is a nod to the fact that McBride’s trans identity has become larger-than-life due to Republicans’ obsession with it. McBride, on the other hand, has remained determined to focus on helping her state.
In the video, she then explains Delaware Day before taking viewers on her journey through the Capitol. She tapes Delaware Day flyers all over hallway walls, gives a deadpan expression as she aimlessly tosses them every which way, and slides them under her colleagues’ office doors.
The video also shows her on the House floor, passing out flyers to representatives, seemingly as they submit votes for a bill, as whimsical music plays in the background.
She also pops into a Florida Representative’s office to hand them a flyer and says, “Hey, Florida, we have better beaches than you” before running away.
At the end, the video reveals that the flyers have a drawing of Delaware with the phrase, “You wish you were First,” followed by the “#1.”
McBride has been using humorous videos to connect with her constituents. During the shutdown, she posted multiple viral videos mocking Republican House members for refusing to show up to work.
In the first video, McBride was seen wandering the Capitol, searching for Republicans under tables, on the train, behind curtains, and in a fireplace as the hours ticked closer to the start of the shutdown. She also looked for Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) in a closet.
“They left a mess and left town,” she tells the camera before showing herself riding alone on the Capitol’s private train as overlay text says, “Waiting for Republicans to do their job.”
In the second, she added an extra dig at longtime MAGA crony and current White House advisor Stephen Miller. As McBride and Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) wandered the Capitol together searching for Republicans in the tongue-in-cheek video, they decided to check if anyone was meeting with Stephen Miller behind a miniature door in the wall.
The moment was likely a reference to a video by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) during which she mocked Miller’s height while explaining that laughing at the GOP is a critical way to “dismantle a movement of insecure men.”
In the video, McBride emphasized that Democrats will “continue to show up and do our jobs” as Republicans refused to negotiate a way out of the shutdown.
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