Marie Pinkney is a

social worker Social work is an academic discipline and practice-based profession concerned with meeting the basic needs of individuals, families, groups, communities, and society as a whole to enhance their individual and collective well-being. Social work ...

and member of the Delaware Senate from New Castle County, Delaware. A newcomer to politics, in September 2020 she defeated incumbent State Senate President Pro Tempore

David McBride David B. McBride (born June 23, 1942) is an American politician who served in the Delaware General Assembly for forty-two years. After serving one term in the Delaware House of Representatives from the 15th district, he was elected to the Delawa ...

in the Democratic

primary election Primary elections, or direct primary are a voting process by which voters can indicate their preference for their party's candidate, or a candidate in general, in an upcoming general election, local election, or by-election. Depending on the ...

by a 52.4%-47.6% margin. In the heavily-Democratic majority minority 13th District, the Democratic nomination is considered tantamount to election. Pinkney defeated Republican nominee Alexander Homich in the general election of November 3, 2020. Pinkney is the first openly queer woman elected to serve in Delaware's state legislature, after Senator Karen E. Peterson came out as gay in 2013 while in office. She is one of three

LGBTQ+ ' is an 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 umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is ...

candidates to be elected to the Delaware General Assembly in 2020, along with

Sarah McBride Sarah McBride (born August 9, 1990) is an American activist and politician who has been a Democratic member of the Delaware Senate since January 2021. She was previously the National Press Secretary of the Human Rights Campaign. After winning ...

and

Eric Morrison Eric Morrison is an American politician serving as a member of the Delaware House of Representatives from the 27th district.Jacob Took"Newcomer Morrison elected to state house in District 27" ''Newark Post'', November 3, 2020. He assumed office in ...

.Ring, Trudy. "Dragged for Drag, Gay Candidate Wins in Del., Along With Queer Woman: Eric Morrison beat a legislator who had criticized him for performing in drag, and Marie Pinkney is on track to become the state's first Black queer lawmaker."
''

The Advocate An advocate is a professional in the field of law. The Advocate, The Advocates or Advocate may also refer to: Magazines * ''The Advocate'' (LGBT magazine), an LGBT magazine based in the United States *''The Harvard Advocate'', a literary magazin ...

'' September 17, 2020

Personal life

Pinkney grew up in New Castle and Wilmington. She attended

Howard High School of Technology Howard High School of Technology is a vocational-technical high school in Wilmington, Delaware and is the oldest of four high schools within the New Castle County Vocational-Technical School District, which includes Delcastle Technical High School ...

and

Delaware State University Delaware State University (DSU or Del State) is a public historically black land-grant research university in Dover, Delaware. DSU also has two satellite campuses: one in Wilmington and one in Georgetown. The university encompasses four col ...

. She worked at a treatment center for adolescents with mental health and substance abuse problems, and now works as a trauma social worker and case manager at

Christiana Hospital Christiana Hospital is a 906-bed nationally ranked, non-profit, tertiary, research and academic medical center located in Stanton, Newark, Delaware, servicing the entire Delaware area and parts of southern New Jersey. Christiana Hospital is the ...

."About..." on Pinkney's website
/ref> Pinkney identifies as queer and is an active member of Christiana Care PRIDE, the LGBTQ+ employee resource group at her workplace.

References

External links

Pinkney campaign website
American social workers African-American state legislators in Delaware Women state legislators in Delaware Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Democratic Party members of the Delaware House of Representatives LGBT state legislators in Delaware African-American LGBT people American queer women 21st-century African-American people 21st-century African-American women Howard High School of Technology alumni {{Delaware-politician-stub