Portrait
Danica Roem
Politician and journalistUnited States

Danica Roem

She brought a local reporter’s attention to roads and schools into a groundbreaking career as an openly trans legislator.

Danica Roem was born in Manassas, Virginia, in 1984. She studied journalism and spent more than a decade reporting for local newspapers. She also sang with the metal band Cab Ride Home.

In 2017 she challenged Republican Bob Marshall for a seat in the Virginia House of Delegates. Marshall had promoted restrictions on trans people’s access to public bathrooms; Roem emphasised practical local concerns, especially congestion on Route 28. Her victory made her the first openly trans person elected to a US state legislature who went on to take office.

She began serving in January 2018 and won re-election in 2019 and 2021. In 2023 she was elected to the Virginia Senate, taking her seat the following year. Her legislative work continued to focus on transport, schools and the needs of constituents.

Roem’s career has attracted attention as a milestone in trans representation. Its everyday substance also reflects the experience of a reporter accustomed to asking how decisions affect a particular community. She has argued that being trans is one part of her identity as a public official, rather than the sole subject on which she can speak.

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