(RICHMOND, Va.) — A transgender woman unseated one of Virginia’s longest serving and most socially conservative lawmakers Tuesday and is set to make history as the first openly transgender person elected and seated in a state legislature.

Democrat Danica Roem, an experienced newspaper reporter, beat Republican Del. Bob Marshall, who sponsored a bill this year that would have restricted the bathrooms transgender people can use. The race was one of the year’s most high profile, drawing national and international attention and big money to the northern Virginia House of Delegates district outside the nation’s capital.

“It’s historic. … It sends a message to politicians everywhere that the politics of bigotry is over,” House Democratic Leader David Toscano said.

via Virginia: Danica Roem First Transgender State Legislator