Hey,
@BetoORourke
: You know what happens when you get attacked in your campaign for being in a band?
You get sworn in the following January and then vote in May to expand access to quality, affordable health insurance for hundreds of thousands of people in your state.
#RockOn
Tip:
If you’re being nominated for a nonpartisan position as a neutral arbiter on the Supreme Court, attacking “the left,” “Democrats,” “the Clintons” and “the media” in your opening statement while noting there will be reprisal for years to come is, well, disqualifying.
"Can I win if I have tattoos?"
Yes.
"Can I win if I like metal & wear black?"
Yes.
"Can I win if I'm a mom with young kids?"
Yes.
"Can I win if I haven't run before?"
Yes.
If you're well-qualified, have good ideas & are a decent person who cares about your community, then go win.
The Virginia House of Delegates just voted to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment as the 28th Amendment to the Constitution of United States of America.
“Equal rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any State on account of sex.”
While many of us celebrate today, please remember the kids, teens & adults who are missing their first Thanksgiving with their families because they were kicked out of their homes after they came out.
Many of them are scared & alone. Love them b/c of who they are, not despite it.
We did it.
We just voted to expand Medicaid to 3,700 of my constituents and more than 300,000 uninsured Virginians.
This is the product of the votes you cast, the doors you knocked, the phone calls you made, the donations you contributed and the word you spread.
Thank you!!!
What you're seeing at the U.S. Capitol isn't anarchy.
It's a violent attempt by domestic terrorists at overthrowing representative democracy in favor of racist authoritarianism.
To the people of the 13th District:
Thank you so much for the confidence you've shown in my team and me by such an overwhelming margin.
I'm grateful to represent you because of who you are - never despite it.
#NoH8
I'll see you Nov. 20 at our next
#fixRoute28
public hearing.
When you vote your values, you create electability.
A 33-year-old transgender, metalhead, reporter, vegetarian, yogini, step-mom wasn’t supposed be who could unseat a 26-year incumbent.
Election: ✅
Re-election: ✅
Turns out, I’m good at my job.
Vote for who you want to win.
#MyNameIs
Danica Anthony Roem.
When I legally changed my first name in ‘15, I kept my middle to honor my grandfather/our 🇮🇹ancestors.
My predecessor tried to Barack Hussein Obama me in ‘17, constantly using my middle name to discredit my identity.
But it is a woman’s name. Mine.
It is now January 1, which means more than 200,000 Virginians who were uninsured yesterday are now insured under Medicaid expansion and coverage is on the way for another 200,000 uninsured Virginians.
Happy New Year, Virginia.
#ElectionsHaveConsequences
Since the election, I've repeatedly heard these Republican talking points about why they lost, basically making Democratic voters out to be too dumb to vote Republican and caring too much about identity politics. At risk of giving them good ideas, let me break this down. /1
My name keeps showing up in end-of-year lists, so here's my response:
Trans people are just as good at public service in schools, the military, hospitals, fire/police/EMS stations, foster care & every branch of government as everyone else when we're supported.
Let us do our jobs.
To the people of western Prince William County, the City of Manassas Park and the City of Manassas: I’m so grateful to continue serving my lifelong home community, now in the state Senate.
Thank you so, so much. It’s time to get back to work!
Seven+ years ago, I attended my first Capital Pride.
I was so nervous anyone I knew might see *me* - being her - pre-HRT, easy to clock when only a few friends knew.
But she needed a day in the sun too.
Yesterday, I rode with a WMC at the front of the parade, celebrating.
Be you.
I lost sleep catching up on hundreds of emails, not the Senate Rs' POS tax bill. All it does is give Rs a reason to go into conference committee. It's not law.
To you:
Sleep.
Organize.
Read the conference bill when it debuts.
If it's as bad as we anticipate, then raise hell & win
Since ‘17, I’ve been told I’m mentally ill, I’m an it, I need a bullet between my eyes, I’m an enemy of God & my gender identity is because of my father’s suicide.
And for all they called me, my constituents call me Delegate.
You can thrive because of who you are, not despite it.
6) Bottom line: Knock off the divisive BS and actually campaign on boring stuff like infrastructure because it's the boring stuff that the people pay you with their tax dollars to work on so they don't have to focus on it. That's literally your job. Try doing it. /7
If you want to know how powerful your vote is:
The President of the United States is in a total, complete, utter panic because of lot of regular, everyday people who are just trying to get by each took a minute or two from their day to fill out a ballot and put it in the mail.
The Commonwealth of Virginia just became the 38th and final state needed to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment as the 28th Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America.
#VAratifiedERA
Just a reminder: Neo Nazis violently killed Heather Heyer while trying to kill others and they’re celebrating her death.
When I talk about a more inclusive commonwealth, they are violently exclusive.
There is no “both sides.” They need to get the hell out of our commonwealth.
Heather Heyer’s ashes are interred in a safe place, says her mother Susan Bro, at an unmarked, undisclosed, “completely protected” location because of extremists who profess their hatred for Heyer
In the first 400 years of the Virginia House, an out trans person never chaired a subcommittee or committee.
I’m proud to have ended that four-century streak this morning.
#BeTheChange
Somewhere in America, there's a parent passed by for a raise, promotion or job who's desperately figuring out how to bring their kids Christmas joy when money & dignity are so tight.
Your honesty & presence is the greatest gift. Just being there matters so much. Hang in there.
This headline is exactly why I'm planning to title my upcoming book Transgender Candidate Writes Book. Even after I win an election, my name is still "transgender candidate" in the headlines.
That said, my main problem is the story omits my willingness to find common ground. /1
A transgender candidate made a northern Virginia highway famous by promising to fix congestion on the road, but some say her proposed solution is woefully inadequate:
In the text of the SCOTUS opinion, the Court refers to Aimee Stephens with she/her pronouns and uses the phrase "different sex from the one assigned at birth."
This is more than a Title VII ruling.
They're recognizing trans people for who we are.
Please take note: One of the main reasons we did so well in VA is we had volunteers inside the commonwealth & across the country working hard for our candidates for months.
The same happened in Alabama.
Your volunteer efforts matter so much. Please keep it going in '18 & '19!
The Republican tax bill that just passed the Senate doesn't mean a thing other than it was a rush job so they would have something to get to conference committee, the result of which will likely be an even worse bill.
Stay focused. The fight isn't over by a long shot.
So I came across a ton of transphobia directed at me today, including from someone I don’t remember but apparently played baseball with 25 years ago.
One catch: the people who live near the baseball park gave me 60% of the vote last year.
No need to reply.
The voters already did.
RBG didn’t spend her life fighting for a more inclusive country for *any* of us to give up, give in or lose hope.
Not now. Not ever.
Her resolve to do something to help — and then do it over and over again for decades — sustained her and us.
This is the time for our resolve.
Six years after the Pulse massacre, waking up on another Sunday — on Transgender Day of Remembrance — to read about a another murderous rampage of gun violence in the place where LGBTQ people are meant to be safe to look, talk, laugh and dance as ourselves is soul crushing.
#TDOR
Being a 35-year-old step-mom and twice-elected state legislator in no way precludes you from sitting at the kids’ table when you’ve got 12 people over and you’re still in the bottom half of the age bracket.
From Manassas with love, happy Thanksgiving, y’all.
One more thing: Stop believing your own headlines. I knew beyond a shred of doubt we would win this race when y'all actually, sincerely thought based on a POS robo poll that 27% of Dems wouldn't vote for me if they knew I'm trans.
1) Wrong.
2) Stop attacking trans people.
#NoH8
We just voted through the Virginia House of Delegates budget to expand Medicaid to up to 400,000 more Virginians.
The bill still needs to go through conference but it’s a historic day here in Richmond.
When I started campaigning Jan. 3, 2017, I was uninsured, out of work and driving a $324 '92 Dodge Shadow in my lifelong home of Manassas.
Last night, the former Vice President of the United States told me how proud he was of all we've accomplished in HD-13.
Thank you,
@JoeBiden
.
The law of Virginia has been settled on this since 2020,
@GovernorVA
. ⬇️
You can’t use executive action to overturn § 2.2-3900, the Virginia Human Rights Act.
If you want a debate, then we’ll see you at a microphone.
If you want to break the law, then we’ll see you in court.
Take three minutes and watch
@pwcdanica
give an AMAZING speech defending a bill to ban discrimination against LGBTQ+ Virginians. This is what Democratic leadership looks like.
My bill HB 1477 to make sure students have two hot meals a day & aren't shamed for it died on a party-time 5-3 vote in subcommittee.
No matter where we stand on funding, we all have to find common ground that we remove the kids from the debate. A hungry child is a hungry child.
Do something.
Do something, do something, do something.
Stop punting.
Stop dithering.
How many more funerals, wounds, bloodied walls, cracked glass, restless nights of agony and endless trauma does there have to be until legislators *do something* to prevent gun violence?
"Roem said as the tattoo artist worked on [the text of the ERA on] her left arm, she used her other hand to mark up a 26-page bill coming through the communications subcommittee she chairs." Badass,
@pwcdanica
.
On my 30th birthday in 2014, just under 10 months into HRT, I was asked how I would find someone while being out.
I said I had just started talking to someone and we were planning to meet up.
We did.
Three months later, we made it official.
Today marks our five-year anniversary.
1) I spent 10 months detailing my plan to fix
#Route28
: how much it would cost ($300M), how to pay for it (reallocating 28-66 funds), what it would look like (replace traffic lights with overpasses) & how I would get it done (local+state). Y'all hit me on "transgenderism." /2
To every transgender American whose name is on the ballot Nov. 6:
There aren’t many of us in elected office.
Very few, in fact.
But you’ve made it this far.
And this is your day.
You can win it.
And it’s a feeling like none other when you do.
You can do this.
You can win.
Go win.
The message
@TIME
is sending about the vital importance of the Fourth Estate is beautiful and needed as journalists continue to be targeted by the same people who attempt to undermine the credibility of neutral, dispassionate journalism.
#JournalismMatters
4) When you spend an entire year just trying to make people afraid of people in their community and you apply this asinine labels as if you're trying to make people afraid of an ideology or an idea, then you're neglecting the very basics of governing to divide our communities. /5
After a 10-hour workday here at the state Capitol, I'm heading out knowing that when I arrive back at work tomorrow, I'll be voting for Virginia to become the 38th and final state needed to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment into the Constitution of the United States of America.
I'll always stand for inclusion & against bullying. Demi Lovato's performance tonight made it clear that's where she stands too. Thank you for the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity
@ddlovato
.
PWC folks: I'll be back bright & early Monday to talk education policy. See you soon!
#NoH8
I talked to reporters today about fixing Route 28, creating a FOIA ombudsman, a shield law to protect reporters, water infrastructure, fighting Dominion's power towers, & how LGBTQ people shouldn't be denied health care coverage.
I campaigned on all of this. Let's get it done.
My bill HB 2132 to ban the gay/trans panic defense is up Friday in the House Courts of Justice - Criminal Subcmte chaired by chief co-patron Del.
@MikeMullin4VA
.
No one should get away with hurting/killing us for simply existing.
Protect 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️ Virginians.
Thank you
@SecretaryPete
for talking to me about my multimodal STARS Study to
#fixRoute28
in Yorkshire and Manassas Park today at the White House after
@POTUS
’s
#PrideMonth
celebration.
It’s great to have federal partners who understand local/state infrastructure issues.
Thank you
@KamalaHarris
for reminding me that when we break barriers, we’ll never know all of the people whose lives we’ve inspired by being vulnerable enough to be visible in the first place.
Chin up.
Shoulders down.
I’m ready to win again:
(Thanks
@HRC
!)
I knew I was trans in elementary school.
I knew I was trans in middle school.
I knew I was trans in high school.
I knew I was trans in college.
I knew I was trans in my 20s.
I knew I was trans at 30 and only then did I feel like I could finally be out to everyone about it.
2) At the state level, y'all made a pediatrician who volunteers at a children's hospice out to be a member of MS-13 and campaigned throughout the state on Confederate statues and fiscally reckless tax cuts your own state senators called BS. And you wonder why you lost? /3
Hey, Texans: If you own an Asian restaurant, make computer chips or run a decent salon and want to live and work in a state with elected officials who respect you, then please talk to me because I’ll be happy to welcome you to the 13th District of the Virginia House of Delegates.
If you want to honor someone with a statue, how about a couple of Virginians who, under threats of murder and violence, demonstrated love is love and won the right to have marriages like theirs recognized across the country?
Loving paved the way for Obergefell v. Hodges.
I'm back in my Manassas Park headquarters.
Before any results come in, I just want to say thank you so, so, so much to my policy and campaign team.
I can't express infinite gratitude in 140 characters. All I can say is you make my and our public service possible.
During a meet-and-greet yesterday, a man smiled as he reached out his arms toward mine, his eyes welling up behind his glasses.
"These hands touched Harvey's." he said.
Harvey Milk's.
So I'm on a plane for a super last-minute request to talk about inclusion & bullying prevention at the AMAs. I spent 16 months working to make our schools more inclusive, so I'm happy to take it up. I'll be back in time for a 7:30 a.m meeting with our PWC School Board tomorrow.
Today I'm launching my 2021 re-election campaign for the Virginia House of Delegates.
I'm running for a third term to keep expanding Medicaid, fixing Route 28, feeding hungry kids and making Virginia a more inclusive commonwealth.
Please donate today:
3) Here in Manassas,
@carterforva
and I talked relentlessly about jobs. Roads. Schools. Health care. Equality. I know this because Lee and I saw each other on the stump constantly. And y'all went after us for and "teaching transgenderism to kindergartners" and "socialism." /4
I’m breathing out the one lingering resentment from 2018/19:
Family Foundation Action & RPV attacked me for supporting trans-inclusive health care.
I called your heartless bluff.
I put it in my platform.
We’re going to pass it.
Don’t you *EVER* attack my trans constituents again.
My seatmate today at the
@VictoryFund
Champagne Fund was the one and only
@Chas10Buttigieg
, whose love Mayor
@PeteButtigieg
brought the house down.
Please thank Truman and Buddy for being kind enough to let y’all visit D.C. for the day. =)
Just as a reminder, while we're excited about the results in Alabama tonight,
@flippable_org
lists three special elections next Tuesday for state Senate seats in Florida, Tennessee and Mississippi.
You can help elect the Democrats in all three states here:
When politically tough votes come up in the House, I vote my conscience.
It’s phenomenally easier to explain to my constituents why I did what I honestly believed to be the right thing than whether it’s the politically popular or easy thing.
Your day may have been cool but did it involve discussing integrated stormwater management systems with the mayor of a mid-size Midwestern city?
Because mine did.
It was a good day.
Thanks,
@PeteButtigieg
.
So a trans middle schooler told his grandma he was too nervous to send this to me and asked her to do it instead.
That’s so sweet.
—
“I was just thinking about what an inspiration she is to the trans community and just how nice she was to me so I decided to attempt to draw her.”
Two years ago, I turned down $2,500 from Google to use two seconds of a video of me being sworn in to the House of Delegates as part of their
#InternationalWomensDay
ad.
I asked them to pay off $2,500 of school meal debts in HD13 schools instead.
They did.
It took me 10 years to pay off my student loans.
When I’m asked now about how student loan forgiveness is fair to those of us who were in debt for years, it’s simple:
My generation should have never had been stuck with that much debt in the first place.
Neither should this one.
Additionally, we should forgive a minimum of $10,000/person of federal student loans, as proposed by Senator Warren and colleagues. Young people and other student debt holders bore the brunt of the last crisis. It shouldn't happen again.
When we launched the Inspire ad, I heard it would cost me the election.
It didn't. And as a friend said, "I wish I saw this ad when I was 14."
To LGBTQ youth: You can succeed because of who you are, not despite it.
It's okay to be you
#TransDayOfVisibility
We earned a third term — and our
@PWCDems
swept ‘em all again: 8-0.
No matter what happens at the top of the ticket, I’m grateful we held the line in greater Prince William.
Cheers, y’all.
I'm going to bed tonight knowing the governor has now signed eight of my school meals bills into law during my two terms.
More kids can eat without being shamed for their family's income. They don't have to worry about how they'll afford their food at school. They can just eat.
The courage it took for Niko to go on national TV, out himself as trans and confront the Governor of Virginia about his illegal/unenforceable — and still draft — proposed bathroom policies contrasts with the Governor refusing to summon the courage to actually answer his question.
“Your transgender policies require students play on the sports teams and use the restrooms that correspond with their sex assigned at birth. . Look at me, I am a transgender man. Do you think the girls in my high school would feel comfortable sharing a restroom with me? “
To trans youth:
So many of the politicians and organizations who spent the last year ostracizing, stigmatizing and dehumanizing you for political gain got trounced last night.
Not everywhere.
Some of them won.
But a lot of them lost and a lot more LGBTQ people won.
You be you.
5) Look at the BS the Democrats in PWC had to put up with from y'all this year. Racism. Xenophobia. Transphobia. When I went on offense in my TV ad, I had a first-person testimonial from someone in PWC who your policies left uninsured. You hit me for my band and my gender. /6
Thank you
@ChelseaClinton
for encouraging our generation to not just bring our ideas into the political arena but to also heed the words and actions of Dorothy Howell Rodham by doing what we can to “expand the circle of blessings” through equality, equity and engagement.
How on Earth is it possible in the President’s mind that somehow we can afford to massively reduce federal revenue when we supposedly can’t afford a 2.1 percent pay raise for my constituents who work their hearts out for this country every single working day as federal employees?
For those seeing a 14-point lead for Biden: Don't you dare get complacent.
As a political reporter for 10.5 years before earning election, I saw summer polls evaporate by fall - Ds and Rs alike.
Jim Webb was down 48%-32% at the end of July 2006 for VA-SEN.
He won by 0.39%.
In one of his 1st acts as Gov.
@GovernorVA
signed Executive Order
#1
, prohibiting discrimination based on, among other things, sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression in state government. This continues
@TerryMcAuliffe
’s EO 1 adding gender expression.
Governor signed 3 more of my bills:
HB 697: School officials can't force a student to throw away a meal that's been served b/c of debt.
HB 698: Schools can distribute excess meals at the end of the day.
HB 703: Schools can solicit & receive donations to pay off school meal debts.
Raise your hand if your partner of nearly 8 years proposed to you last night in
#Baltimore
when
@ApocalypticaFI
finished their Finnish cello metal cover of
@Metallica
’s “Nothing Else Matters” and you were so emphatic to say “yes” that you kinda, sorta tackled your new fiancé.
🙋🏻♀️
One of the members of my team saw some anti-trans rhetoric written about me online and replied, "When they go low, we build roads."
Or just fix the existing ones.
#NoH8
#FixRoute28
Today, I'm announcing my candidacy for the newly drawn, open 30th District of the Virginia state Senate in 2023 to represent the people of western Prince William County and the Cities of Manassas and Manassas Park.
🔃 RT
✅Donate:
1) The District of Columbia has a larger population than Wyoming.
2) District of Columbia voters supported statehood 86%-14%.
It's way past time we count as equal the hundreds of thousands of people who want in.
#DCStatehood
#51stState
So, the chair of the Wyoming Republican Party says he’s had “brief conversation” with the Texas Republican Party about seceding from the United States (tho he adds for now they’re not talking about it more unless “grassroots” members bring it up)