Colorado state Rep. Brianna Titone said she never thought she would be able to mount a successful candidacy for public office.
As a transgender woman, she assumed that would immediately disqualify her. Then, in 2017, Titone watched Danica Roem run for and win a seat in the Virginia House of Delegates. “Watching [Roem’s campaign] really showed me what was possible and that gave me the nudge,” Titone told the Washington Blade. “I only needed to win by one vote.” In 2018, she won by 439 votes in her race to represent Colorado’s 27th House District, a traditionally conservative area that includes the Denver suburb of Arvada, in the state’s House of Representatives.