Sarah McBride on Transgender Rights

Sarah McBride

Role at the time: Democratic U.S. representative for Delaware and Arminio’s opponent, quoted by Delaware Public Media

Statement summary

Delaware Public Media reported McBride’s account of why she asked that Arminio not be removed. She said that allowing people to speak lets them “show you who they are,” that Arminio was “showing himself to be not serious in this debate,” and that people like that in Washington are trying to “get attention [and] go viral.” She said she has “thick skin” and that this “doesn’t mean what he was doing or saying was right or appropriate,” but that she wanted it clear that his removal “was not a byproduct of my request.”

“I strongly believe that when you allow people to show you who they are they will do so, and I think my opponent was showing himself to be not serious in this debate … I've dealt with people like that in Washington, I know what they're trying to do: They're trying to get attention [and] go viral … I have thick skin; I can handle things. That doesn't mean what he was doing or saying was right or appropriate... but I thought it was important to make clear that his removal from the stage was not a byproduct of my request.”