First Transgender State Rep-Elect has Slim Lead In Arvada

ARVADA, CO – It's a nail-biter in Arvada's State Rep. District 27 race: Vote totals are still being calculated for the race, which at one point had a difference of as low as 12 votes separating the the Democrat and Republican candidates for the formerly GOP-leaning district.

That gap spread by Thursday evening, when the Secretary of State's website reported that Democrat firefighter and geologist Brianna Titone had received 24,231 votes, or 50.20 percent, while APEX board member and businesswoman GOP candidate Vicki Pyne Pyne had received 24,037 votes, which is 49.80 percent.

If she wins, Titone would be the first openly transgender member of the Colorado Legislature.

Arvada's political history includes a transgender ground-breaker, former Arvada city councilwoman Joanne Conte, who ran unsuccessfully for the Statehouse in the 1990s. But times were different back then, and Conte did not reveal that she had undergone gender reassignment surgery in the 1970s, until she was "outed" by Westword. Conte, who died in 2013, blamed the ruckus over her decades-earlier sex-change operation for losing her bid for the Statehouse.

Things have changed in Arvada, and across the U.S., but Titone, a geologist and volunteer firefighter was spurred to run for office by the political climate under President Donald Trump.

Most recently, Titone and other supporters were alarmed and outraged when Trump's administration announced a proposed federal change in the definition of gender.

"I encourage everyone to stand up for the civil rights of the transgender and non-binary community today because if they can strip away the rights of one group today, they could come for another tomorrow," she said in an interview with Arvada Press.

"I don’t mind putting myself out there, putting myself into danger," she said in the interview, citing her time as a firefighter. "It’s a calculated risk that I’m willing to take,” she said. “With risk comes great reward. And I think that running for office now has a lot of reward for a lot of people and a lot of people will benefit from the work that I’m trying to do."

Pyne did not immediately return requests for comment.

READ MORE in Arvada Press

Image via Brianna Titone campaign website

This story has been updated to use the term "transgender" as opposed to "transgendered," thanks to shrewd readers and the AP Style book.

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