{"id":8718,"date":"2026-08-05T20:38:17","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T20:38:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=8718"},"modified":"2026-08-05T20:38:17","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T20:38:17","slug":"this-chaplain-may-become-first-trans-person-elected-to-michigan-legislature","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=8718","title":{"rendered":"This chaplain may become first trans person elected to Michigan legislature"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n
Joanna Whaley, left, greets U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed at a town hall last year. (Ryan Sun\/AP)<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

Joanna Whaley, a hospital chaplain who won the Democratic primary on Tuesday for a Michigan state House seat, could become the first transgender person elected to the state\u2019s legislature.<\/p>

Read more Michigan Senate primary shows Democratic establishment has lost its grip<\/a><\/p>\n

Whaley defeated both former state representative Frank Liberati and Allen Park City Council member Gary Schlack, and is favored to win the seat in November in a heavily Democratic district.<\/p>\n

In a video posted Wednesday<\/a>, Whaley, a former megachurch pastor who has spoken about surviving \u201cconversion therapy,\u201d<\/a> acknowledged that her win was \u201ca defining moment for state history.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut this campaign has never been about history. It\u2019s never been about identity. It\u2019s been about \u2026 can we afford our bills? Can we afford our health care? Am I as free as my neighbor?\u201d she added.<\/p>

Read more Why did the polls miss so badly in Michigan?<\/a><\/p>\n

Whaley noted the primary race had been \u201ccontentious\u201d at times. Earlier this year, Liberati unsuccessfully tried to have her removed from the ballot<\/a> because she did not use the name she was given at birth.<\/p>\n

Catch up quickly every weekday morning with a rundown of the 7 most important and interesting stories. <\/i>Sign up for The 7 newsletter<\/i><\/a>.<\/i><\/p>

Read more Preakness shifts date amid rocky week for horse racing\u2019s Triple Crown<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Joanna Whaley is favored to win the heavily Democratic district in November.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8716,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nThis chaplain may become first trans person elected to Michigan legislature - Moving Insider USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=8718\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"This chaplain may become first trans person elected to Michigan legislature - Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Joanna Whaley is favored to win the heavily Democratic district in November.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=8718\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-08-05T20:38:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/be299e0abef56ab1ea6ab825964aa901-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1706\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8718#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8718\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\"},\"headline\":\"This chaplain may become first trans person elected to Michigan legislature\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-05T20:38:17+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8718\"},\"wordCount\":249,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8718#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/dfb27e719d714a0c7d87c411f885a951-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Interesting\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8718#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8718\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8718\",\"name\":\"This chaplain may become first trans person elected to Michigan legislature - Moving Insider USA\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8718#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8718#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/dfb27e719d714a0c7d87c411f885a951-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-05T20:38:17+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8718#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8718\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8718#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/dfb27e719d714a0c7d87c411f885a951-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/dfb27e719d714a0c7d87c411f885a951-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1706,\"caption\":\"U.S. Senate candidate for Michigan Abdul El-Sayed, right, greets Joanna Whaley, a candidate for District 2 of the Michigan House of Representatives, during a town hall, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025, in Lincoln Park, Mich. 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