Maebe A. Girl (also known as G. Pudlo; born July 27, 1986) is an American

drag queen A drag queen is a person, usually male, who uses drag clothing and makeup to imitate and often exaggerate female gender signifiers and gender roles for entertainment purposes. Historically, drag queens have usually been gay men, and part o ...

and politician. She came to prominence as the first drag queen ever elected to public office in the United States, due to being elected to the Silver Lake Neighborhood Council in 2019. Girl is

non-binary Non-binary and genderqueer are umbrella terms for gender identities that are not solely male or femaleidentities that are outside the gender binary. Non-binary identities fall under the transgender umbrella, since non-binary people typically ...

and uses she/her and they/them pronouns. On June 28, 2019, Girl announced a

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

bid for

California's 28th congressional district California's 28th congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of California, in Los Angeles County. The district is regarded as a Democratic stronghold and has been held by the Democratic Party since 2003 and is curren ...

, challenging incumbent

Adam Schiff Adam Bennett Schiff (born June 22, 1960) is an American lawyer, author, and politician who has served as a U.S. representative since 2001. A member of the Democratic Party, he has represented since 2013. Schiff's district (numbered as the 2 ...

. If successful, Girl would have been the first

transgender A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through tr ...

person ever elected to Congress. She conceded the election on March 27, 2020, when the final results from Los Angeles County races were released, after placing third. On February 2, 2021, Girl announced that she would run against Schiff again in the 2022 election. Girl placed second in the June 2022

jungle primary A nonpartisan blanket primary is a primary election in which all candidates for the same elected office run against each other at once, regardless of the political party. Partisan elections are, on the other hand, segregated by political party. ...

and advanced to the general election, becoming the first Democrat running against Schiff to do so. After Schiff announced that he would retire from the House of Representatives to run for Senate in 2024, Girl announced her candidacy for his seat a third time to succeed him.

Early life and drag career

Girl was born in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

. She subsequently moved to

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, where she did pizza tours of the city. Girl later began performing in drag. As host and producer of the Lyric Hyperion Theatre's drag brunch, she became known for doing satirical impressions of political figures, including

Melania Trump Melania Trump ( ; born Melanija Knavs , Germanized as Melania Knauss ; born April 26, 1970) is a Slovene-American former model and businesswoman who served as First Lady of the United States from 2017 to 2021 as the wife of 45th president Do ...

Betsy DeVos Elisabeth Dee DeVos ( ; ' Prince; born January 8, 1958) is an American politician, philanthropist, and former government official who served as the 11th United States secretary of education from 2017 to 2021. DeVos is known for her support for s ...

, and

Sarah Sanders Sarah Elizabeth Huckabee Sanders (born August 13, 1982) is an American former political spokesperson and the governor-elect of Arkansas. She was the 31st White House press secretary, serving under President Donald Trump from 2017 to 2019. She ...

Career

Silver Lake Neighborhood Council

After working as an overnight supervisor at a homeless shelter, Girl declared a run for the Silver Lake Neighborhood Council on the basis of addressing the homelessness crisis, supporting LGBTQIA rights, and protecting immigrants. Girl ran for Neighborhood Council with a slate of candidates called Silver Lake Progressive. She was elected in the election on April 16, 2019, becoming the first known drag queen ever elected to public office. After her election, Girl formed the Silver Lake LGBTQIA Advocates Committee. She soon took on the position on the council of Homelessness Liaison, aiming to bridge the gap between the Homelessness Committee and the rest of the council. As part of this homeless advocacy work, she voted in favor of submitting a Community Impact Statement to

Los Angeles City Hall Los Angeles City Hall, completed in 1928, is the center of the government of the city of Los Angeles, California, and houses the mayor's office and the meeting chambers and offices of the Los Angeles City Council. It is located in the Civic Cente ...

to address homeless encampment clean-ups.

2020 congressional election

Girl announced on June 28, 2019 that they would be challenging

in the March 3, 2020 primary election for

. They said their goal for policy-making was in three parts: "Protect, Advocate, and Legislate". Girl decided to run as a Democrat, challenging Schiff from the left, and receiving the endorsement of progressive groups, including the local branches of

Our Revolution Our Revolution (sometimes known by its initials OR) is an American progressive political action organization spun out of Senator Bernie Sanders's 2016 presidential campaign to continue its work. The organization's mission is to educate vote ...

2022 congressional election

Girl ran against Adam Schiff for a second time in the

2022 United States House of Representatives elections The 2022 United States House of Representatives elections were held on November 8, 2022, as part of the 2022 United States elections during incumbent president Joe Biden's term. The elections were held to elect representatives from all 435 U ...

for California's 30th congressional district, to which Schiff had been redistricted. She advanced to the general election, finishing second in the primary with 12.9%. Girl lost against Schiff in the general election, bringing in 28.9% of the vote.

2024 congressional election

Girl announced her candidacy for California's 30th congressional district on January 26, 2023. This came after

, the current incumbent, announced his plans to run for

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

, leaving the congressional district without an incumbent.

Political positions

Girl considers herself a

progressive Progressive may refer to: Politics * Progressivism, a political philosophy in support of social reform ** Progressivism in the United States, the political philosophy in the American context * Progressive realism, an American foreign policy par ...

, and has likened her policies to those of

Bernie Sanders Bernard Sanders (born September8, 1941) is an American politician who has served as the junior United States senator from Vermont since 2007. He was the U.S. representative for the state's at-large congressional district from 1991 to 2007 ...

and

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (; ; born October 13, 1989), also known by her initials AOC, is an American politician and activist. She has served as the U.S. representative for New York's 14th congressional district since 2019, as a member of th ...

. Her policies are strongly pro-

LGBTQIA ' is an Acronym, initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an Hyponymy and hypernymy, umbrella term for Sexuality and gende ...

. She has said that dressing in drag is "part of who

he is He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...

as a

queer ''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are not heterosexual or cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against those with same-sex desires or relationships in the late 19th century. Beginning in the lat ...

person" and is itself political, saying it "taught erhow to engage with people". Sitting on the Silver Lake Neighborhood Council's Homelessness Committee, Girl has highlighted homelessness in her campaign and tied it to the high number of homeless LGBTQ youth (40% of total homeless youth identify this way). She supports

Medicare for All Single-payer healthcare is a type of universal healthcare in which the costs of essential healthcare for all residents are covered by a single public system (hence "single-payer"). Single-payer systems may contract for healthcare services from p ...

, a

Green New Deal Green New Deal (GND) proposals call for public policy to address climate change along with achieving other social aims like job creation and reducing economic inequality. The name refers back to the New Deal, a set of social and economic refo ...

, and

abortion rights Abortion-rights movements, also referred to as pro-choice movements, advocate for the right to have legal access to induced abortion services including elective abortion. They seek to represent and support women who wish to terminate their pre ...

. Girl opposes going to war with Iran,

Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen Saudi may refer to: * Saudi Arabia * Saudis, people from Saudi Arabia * Saudi culture, the culture of Saudi Arabia * House of Saud The House of Saud ( ar, آل سُعُود, ʾĀl Suʿūd ) is the ruling royal family of Saudi Arabia. It is c ...

, and increases in defense spending. She has repeatedly expressed support for the

abolition of ICE Abolish ICE is a political movement that seeks the abolition of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The movement gained mainstream traction in June 2018 following controversy of the Trump administration family separation policy. The m ...

Electoral history

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Girl, Maebe A. 1986 births 21st-century American politicians American drag queens California Democrats California city council members Candidates in the 2020 United States elections Candidates in the 2022 United States House of Representatives elections Entertainers from Pennsylvania American LGBT city council members Living people Non-binary drag performers People from Silver Lake, Los Angeles Politicians from Pittsburgh Transgender politicians Transgender drag performers Transgender non-binary people Non-binary politicians Candidates in the 2024 United States House of Representatives elections