Democrat Danica Roem was elected to a seat in Virginia’s House of Delegates today, which makes her the first openly transgender elected official in the state’s history, The Washington Post reports. Roem unseats the incumbent, Republican Robert G. Marshall, who held the seat since 1992. Marshall introduced the state’s “bathroom bill” and once referred to himself as the state’s “chief homophobe.” Roem is a career journalist who worked for years at the Gainesville Times; she provides vocals for the thrash metal band Cab Ride Home. Their most recent album Crash the Gate was released in April. “Just because I sing in a heavy metal band while spinning my head in circles and getting paid to do it, why can’t I run for government,” Roem told Noisey earlier this year.