When she visited San Francisco's Castro neighborhood Sunday, Danica Roem was greeted first by a stampede of scantily-clad Santas – and then by a swarm of smiling fans.

Roem made headlines last month when she won a seat in the Virginia House of Delegates, making her the first openly transgender person to be elected to the state's legislature. She attended a fundraising event Sunday afternoon in Beaux, a bar just around the corner from the famous Castro Theater. There, the 33-year-old Virginia native shook hands and snapped selfies with her Californian supporters, many of whom identify somewhere in the LGBT initialism themselves.

Roem was in San Francisco to give the keynote address at an event held by Emerge California, a group that aims to help Democratic women run for office.

"Women have a different worldview, and our voices need to be heard at the table too – and that goes for all women," she said.

Roem's opponent in November was incumbent Robert G. Marshall, a conservative who introduced a "bathroom bill" that, had it passed, would have required transgender students to use the restroom corresponding with the gender on their birth certificate. Marshall refused to debate Roem and referred to her with masculine pronouns.

Though she didn't shy away from the topic of her gender – she still ties her long hair up with a rainbow bandanna – Roem's campaign focused more intensely on fixing local problems. She said she drew on her experience as an investigative reporter in developing her platform, which focused on jobs, education and the repair of one badly congested central highway.

Would-be candidates, she said, should start by figuring out what issues are most important to their constituents. It's advice right out of Public Policy 101, but "it's hard to go wrong when you go hyper-local, whether you're running in a liberal or conservative area."

"If you're in SF, and you're in the heart of liberal America and your roads suck and your transportation sucks, if you're in charge, you're not going to have a job very long," she said. "You've got to take care of that stuff too, because liberals and conservatives alike get stuck in traffic."

Roem knows this doesn't make for good theatrics, and has unapologetically admitted to wanting to "make government boring again." A recent New York Times profile called her "really, really boring." Even one of her San Francisco supporters, Jordan Davis, said Roem was showing transgender people "we can be boring policy wonks too."

"There's a certain irony," said Jeff Sheehy, District 8 supervisor, who met with Roem in the Castro. "She's a lightning rod for social issues but her campaign (focused) on the bread and butter issues that matter to Virginians."

Still, it's hard to make the case that she's entirely uninteresting. In addition to her political work, Roem is a stepmother, a vegetarian, and a self-proclaimed "metalhead." Asked about Cab Ride Home, the thrash metal band she sings in, she lamented that while it was fun while it lasted, the band would soon need to plan a farewell show.

Though she has yet to be sworn in, Roem has already started taking calls from her new constituents. She said most are surprised to hear back from her so quickly.

"Thats what I'm signed up to do – (bringing) that responsiveness back to people and not having ulterior motives for it," she said. "I don't want to run for for president. I don't want to run for federal office. I just want to do a good job in state legislature. That's it."