Misty Kathrine Snow (born July 19, 1985) is an American political candidate who was one of the first openly

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 ...

people in the United States to have been nominated by a major political party for a federal office. Snow was the Democratic nominee in the

2016 United States Senate election in Utah The 2016 United States Senate election in Utah took place on November 8, 2016, to elect a member of the United States Senate to represent the State of Utah, concurrently with the 2016 U.S. presidential election, as well as other elections to t ...

. This also made her the first transgender person to become a nominee for the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

as well as the first

LGBT ' 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 a ...

person to be a major-party nominee for statewide office in Utah.

Early life

Snow was born in 1985 in

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...

and has lived in

Salt Lake County, Utah Salt Lake County is located in the U.S. state of Utah. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 1,185,238, making it the most populous county in Utah. Its county seat and largest city is Salt Lake City, the state capital. The coun ...

for her entire life. She worked in a grocery store and comes from a working-class family. She was raised as a

Latter-Day Saint Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into several ...

, but as she grew up, she left

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Christianity, Christian church that considers itself to be the Restorationism, restoration of the ...

. She is the daughter of Linda Pace and the eldest of four children.

Career

Snow was the first openly transgender candidate to win a major party primary for the U.S. Senate. She won the Democratic primary, defeating fellow Democrat Jonathan Swinton 59.5% to 40.5%. On November 8, 2016, with 27% of the vote, Snow lost her Senate bid to Republican incumbent

Mike Lee Michael Shumway Lee (born June 4, 1971) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the senior United States senator from Utah, a seat he has held since 2011. He is a member of the Republican Party. Lee began his career as a clerk for the U ...

, who received 68% of the vote.

Political positions

Snow is a progressive and self-described

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 ...

-like Democrat. Policy priorities include increasing the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour, paid maternity leave, expansion of Medicare and Medicaid, clean energy, and LGBT nondiscrimination efforts.

U.S. House race

On April 13, 2017, Snow formally announced her run against Chris Stewart, the Republican incumbent representative for

Utah's 2nd congressional district Utah's 2nd congressional district currently serves Salt Lake City and the largely rural western and southern portions of Utah, including Saint George and Tooele. The current U.S. House Representative is Republican Chris Stewart. A map of cur ...

. She dropped out of the race in March 2018, and the Democratic candidate was instead Shireen Ghorbani.

References

External links