WHEELING, W.Va. (AP) — The look of shock on people’s faces is often seen when Rosemary Ketchum is introduced as the first openly transgender person elected to elected office in West Virginia. An expression appeared on my face.
“People will say, ‘How did that happen?’ It’s like I won the lottery or solved a Rubik’s Cube in front of them or something,” she said. “They think it’s magic.”
To her, it doesn’t feel like magic. But in a way, she can understand their surprise. Only a few of the nation’s handful of transgender politicians are elected in similarly rural, Republican-controlled states.
Ketchum, 29, is one of them.And next week, she could be elected again – this time as mayor. wheelinga former coal and steel production site about 60 miles (97 kilometers) from Pittsburgh.
She said she grew up watching businesses close and people struggle to find housing and mental health support during the opioid epidemic. But her heart is optimistic, and her memories of when she first encountered Wheeling’s “Friendly City” motto on the welcome sign often come back to haunt her.
“I didn’t run for City Council to make history. I ran to make a difference in the community,” she said of her motivations for running.
Wheeling is a city of 26,000 people with a special place in West Virginia history. It is located in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, along the Ohio River, in a region that separated from Virginia and the Confederacy in 1863.
More than a century later, a portrait of the group hangs in Wheeling’s City Hall. You can’t miss Ketchum. She is standing next to her seven men in suits, wearing a red dress and black heels, and has platinum blonde hair. She stands out at meetings with her red nails and laptop covered in Taylor Swift stickers.
At a recent City Council meeting, she asked questions about pending water and wastewater projects, thanked city staff for their work and urged residents exposed to recent flooding to get tetanus shots at their local health department.
For Ketchum, going to college is of course important. work in politics — was not on the card.
When she was in high school, a tragic house fire left her family homeless. They had no home insurance or savings and had to temporarily move into a neighbor’s basement.
“We had no backup plan,” she said. “And unfortunately, many blue-collar families find themselves in the same situation.”
After the fire, Ketchum arrived in Wheeling at age 16 and in the midst of a gender transition. His family received food stamps, and Ketchum worked as a bartender after high school. She then became the first in her family to graduate from university, and she credits her ability to live in public housing for making that possible.
She later served as vice president of the city’s local chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness. This work, combined with her lived experiences, shaped the way she approaches public policy.
In 2023, Ketchum was one of only two city officials to vote against an ordinance aimed at removing homeless encampments. She helped establish the city’s first internal position focused on homelessness, helping people find mental health support, permanent housing and employment.
When people ask her how she got elected as an openly transgender candidate, Ketchum answers matter-of-factly. She wrote her name on her ballot, knocked on her door, called her, asked her residents what they cared about, and trusted her residents’ judgment. Decided.
“I didn’t predetermine or assume what they would think about me. I gave them a chance to think for themselves,” she said. “I didn’t walk up to the door and say, ‘Oh, this person has a President Trump sign, they’re going to hate me.'”
Wheeling is the county seat of Ohio County, where 38% of voters in 2023 are registered as Republicans, compared to 34% as Democrats, according to state data. City Council positions are nonpartisan.
Some voters in Ketchum have either never met a transgender person or are uncomfortable with the idea of gender nonconforming. But she sees this as a test of her leadership and motivation to go the extra mile to address community concerns, from accessible public transportation to supporting small businesses.
“I think it’s fascinating that someone might say, ‘All these trans people on TV and on the internet — I don’t know about that, but trans people paved my way. “I have to say that they have fulfilled my wishes, such as making potholes, cutting down trees in the front yard, and fixing the sidewalk,” she said.
Kelly Ahmad, a local artist and Ketchum campaign volunteer, said she has great respect for Ketchum’s response to his detractors.
“I’ve had people call me and say, ‘There’s a lot of grass that needs to be cut down nearby, can you do it for me?'” she said. Ahmad said. “It just says, ‘I may fundamentally disagree with who you are, but you’re capable.'”
Rosemary’s mother, Diane Ketchum, said it wasn’t easy watching Ketchum enter politics. As a child, she saw her daughter being bullied because of her gender identity.
But the world has changed since then, and perceptions of transgender people in this region are beginning to change as well. Diane Ketchum said people like Ketchum are a big part of that, saying he’s seen people become more tolerant and understanding about transgender people since his daughter became president. said.
“A lot of people changed their minds after meeting my daughter,” Diane Ketchum said.
The City Council is the only city in West Virginia to declare racism a public health crisis during the COVID-19 pandemic. It then banned conversion therapy, a powerful but symbolic measure.
Ketchum said that when she’s campaigning, people talk about what kind of restrooms they think transgender people should be able to use, or what kinds of bathrooms kids think LGBTQ+ characters should be featured in at school. He said he wasn’t talking about whether people should read the book or not. People often want to talk about road repaving or worry about the number of young people leaving the state, but the state was one of only two states whose population decreased in the 2020 census. It is.
“Quite frankly, it has given me a lot more respect for my neighbors,” Ketchum said. Republicans’ focus While book bans and restroom access may get attention statewide and nationally, “they don’t work at the local level. They don’t register,” she said.
She said many people feel apathy or distrust of the government. But she is not cynical. Instead, she gives voters her personal phone number and holds regular office hours in local markets where anyone can talk to her.
Ketchum is on how to strike the delicate balance between making streets safer for pedestrians, revitalizing the downtown area, and preserving and restoring ornate but dilapidated structures throughout the city. I’ll tell you. She beams with pride as she shares her progress on the restoration of the historic suspension bridge that leads to the city island where she worked at her family’s bar.
“Sometimes we call it a ‘friendship city,’ but that seems like an aspiration, because we are facing so much tension, and in some ways, especially in politics, that generational Because there are rifts,” she said. “But I see it here every day. We’re getting somewhere.”
