Danica Roem has become the first openly transgender state official in American history… and she’s a metalhead! Roem is the vocalist for Cab Ride Home, a Virginia-based band that call themselves “drunken thrash metal.”

Roem was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates last night (Nov. 7) beating 13-term incumbent Robert Marshall by a comfortable margin. Marshall is known as Virginia’s most socially conservative lawmaker, having once labeled himself as Virginia’s “chief homophobe” and earlier this year attempted to introduce a “bathroom bill” to restrict public bathroom use by transgender people.

“Discrimination is a disqualifier,” Roem said in victory. “This is about the people of the 13th District disregarding fear tactics, disregarding phobias … where we celebrate you because of who you are, not despite it.”

As for Roem’s history as a musician, she helped form Cab Ride Home in 2006. The band actually released their debut full-length, Crash the Gate, earlier this year. “We're a five-piece group and all members are committed to ultimately touring full-time,” Cab Ride Home’s Bandcamp page reads. “Our sound is drunken thrash metal, our songs are about drinking and our shows are about raging. We've played 120 shows and even toured the U.K. 'Nuff said.”

Cab Ride Home, "The VFW Falls Church"

Robert Marshall actually used a piece of Cab Ride Home’s “Bad Judgement” video to smear Roem. The clip reportedly shows a suggestive scene of men having oral sex a bathroom stall.

No word yet on how Roem’s new political career will affect her music, but we’d like to congratulate Danica Roem on her victory.

Update: Both Lamb of God's Randy Blythe, a native Virginian, and Pearl Jam have offered congratulatory posts to Danica on her win that can be seen below.

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