THE STORY – A portrait of Sarah McBride’s historic run to become the first transgender Member of Congress, the backlash that ensues, and her fight for change amidst intensifying political extremism.
THE CAST – Sarah McBride & Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
THE TEAM – Chase Joynt (Director/Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 93 Minutes
It’s a scene almost as old as the republic itself—a tree-lined street in a residential neighborhood. An eager young candidate knocks on doors and introduces herself to neighbors. She hands out fliers and asks for their vote. She hosts local round tables with constituents to learn what issues are most on their minds. She does news interviews and film commercials and does everything she can to get out the vote on Election Day. These scenes, taken from the new documentary “State of Firsts,” feel like those we have seen a hundred times before, except for one thing: the candidate.
Her name is Sarah McBride, and she is no stranger to “firsts.” In 2012, she was the first openly transgender woman to work at the White House; in 2016, she became the first trans speaker ever to address the Democratic National Convention; and in 2020, she was elected to the Delaware State Senate, becoming the highest-ranking openly transgender elected official in America. As captured by trans director Chase Joynt in his new doc “State of Firsts,” McBride seeks to achieve another major milestone — to become the first openly transgender member of the United States Congress.
Joynt picks up his film just before President Joe Biden decides to withdraw from the 2024 Presidential race, but McBride is already headlong into her candidacy. Refusing to be boxed in as simply “the trans candidate,” McBride meets with voters from across the state to discuss the issues that mean the most to her: passing paid family and medical leave, protecting reproductive rights, and expanding access to healthcare. Voters appear to like what they hear, and in September, McBride wins the Democratic primary, garnering a remarkable 80% of the vote in a three-candidate field.
To this point, “State of Firsts” has been perfectly fine. The sequences capturing the behind-the-scenes work of her staff, the frustration at campaign logistics, and the occasional worry at how the candidate is being perceived are quite well done. But, except for the candidate herself, the film hasn’t presented anything we haven’t seen before in other political docs. At that moment, my expectations of the film became quite tempered. But when the tone of the race in its final weeks takes a decidedly dark turn, “State of Firsts” suddenly becomes a lot more interesting.
The attacks and disrespect start slowly at first. Innuendos on social media begin to be whispered, and her Republican opponent, John Whalen, refuses to debate her. The pressure intensifies, however, with a series of TV ads for Donald Trump that run in the nearby Philadelphia media market that singles out non-binary and transgender Americans: “Kamala is for They/Them; President Trump is for you.” The attack ad was ostensibly against the Democratic Presidential nominee, but to Delaware voters, the message clearly included McBride.
Matters get even worse after McBride wins the election and prepares to take her seat in Congress. Her focus is to keep her promise to Delaware voters on protecting healthcare, but the goals of Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) and the Republican House leadership are very different. Before the TV cameras, their singular focus appears to be to keep McBride from using the women’s bathroom at the U.S. Capitol, a dust-up that garners worldwide media attention and one the film covers with a cynical eye.
However, what elevates “State of Firsts” from your average political doc is that both McBride and Joynt know politics and what it takes to succeed in this often treacherous profession. To his credit, Joynt refuses to present the gay electorate as a monolithic voting block (admittedly a rarity in gay political documentaries). Instead, as McBride solicits feedback from the queer community, Joynt includes a wide range of responses — some critical — of her stance on non-gay issues, particularly her position on the war in Gaza.
But inevitably, it is her stands on issues affecting the LGBTQIA+ community that are under the most scrutiny, particularly from her gay constituents, many of whom are upset at her acquiescence at Speaker Mike Johnson’s ruling banning her from the women’s bathrooms. But McBride takes the long view. She refuses to take the GOP bait because she knows that making a big stink about it would allow her to be caricatured, and that would diminish her ultimate effectiveness as a legislator.
If there is a weakness in the doc, it is that the film presents McBride as just this side of saintly. A flawed moment or two of anger or weakness could have gone a long way in adding an extra dimension to her otherwise sunny personality. Nevertheless, the film effectively captures her determination to be the best representative for her constituents, always motivated by her apocryphal mantra: “First they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”
