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

transgender A transgender (often shortened to trans) person has a gender identity different from that typically associated with the sex they were sex assignment, assigned at birth. The opposite of ''transgender'' is ''cisgender'', which describes perso ...

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

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

as well as the first

LGBT LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, asexual, aromantic, agender, and other individuals. The gro ...

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 or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state. The city is the core of the Salt Lake Ci ...

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 List of capitals in th ...

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 The Latter Day Saint movement (also called the LDS movement, LDS restorationist movement, or Smith–Rigdon movement) is the collection of independent church groups that trace their origins to a Christian Restorationist movement founded b ...

, 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 Restorationism, restorationist Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, denomination and 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, 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 and activist who is the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States Senate, United States senator from the state of Vermont. He is the longest-serving independ ...

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

References

External links