Hey fam, welcome to the trans slash podcast, the show about news, politics and culture from a trans perspective.

I'm your host, Amara Jones. And you're listening to our drum roll.

Election special. Bring down the balloons.

For many of us, politics feels pretty bleak right now. Gee, I wonder why. We're anxious. We're scared. We're not sure what next week will bring. And we're getting so much stressful news everywhere right now.

One way, of course, to deal with all that anxiety is

for all of us to vote, but because of immigration status or past incarceration, not everyone can.

There are, of course, reasons to be fearful, but there are also reasons to be hopeful.

In this episode, we're going to explore the light and all the darkness.

Today, you're going to hear about trans-resistance and mobilization in Red States this election cycle.

To get into that, we talked to Samantha Allen, a PhD, journalist, and author of Real Queer America.

I think that there's this amazing groundswell of change happening in this country in a way that can't be stopped.

Plus, you'll hear from Honey Mahogany, the first blackout trans person to be elected to a political party position in California.

She's going to talk about what it means to push for meaningful change

at the local level.

I am very gender non-conforming when I go to work.

And I think for people to see me, like, in City Hall with my shoes clacking, like, that must

shake things up for them.

And we're going to start, as always, despite all this fear and bleakness, with a moment of trans joy.

There are so many exciting races this cycle.

Most exciting, however, is that there are more out-trans people

running for office than ever. One race in particular is drawing a lot of excitement. That's a

state senate race in Delaware, where Sarah McGride is practically guaranteed to win. And when

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