Republican U.S. House contender Joseph “Dr. Joe” Arminio was removed from a panel Thursday featuring candidates in Delaware races after he repeatedly misgendered Democratic U.S. Rep. Sarah McBride.
McBride is the first openly transgender member of the U.S. House and was sworn in last year.
Things unraveled at the Siegel Jewish Community Center in Wilmington, where the Jewish Federation of Delaware’s Jewish Community Relations Committee coordinates a candidates forum every two years. The event featured candidates for U.S. Senate, U.S. House of Representatives, attorney general, state treasurer, and auditor of accounts.
McBride will face Republican Arminio in November for the state’s only U.S. House seat.
Arminio, a Wilmington native, political scientist, author, and educator, campaigned largely on inflation. His responses to a 2026 voter questionnaire indicate several anti-LGBTQ+ policy positions. In 2008, he ran unsuccessfully for Congress in Maryland. He did not receive the Delaware GOP’s endorsement, which went to Earl Cooper.
At the public event, Arminio repeatedly referred to McBride using he/him pronouns and later called her a “gentleman.”
In the first incident, Arminio’s remarks were met with boos from the crowd. After he spoke, moderator Ken Grant warned him to follow the forum’s rules for proper decorum.
“If you fail to show respect to anyone else on this stage, you’ll be asked to leave,” Grant said.
Arminio acknowledged the incident during one of his forum responses.
“I committed an error before,” he said. “I do acknowledge it. It’s not the first error I’ve made in this campaign, or at any point in my future life.”
But minutes later, Arminio misgendered McBride again, pointing at her and Democratic Sen. Chris Coons and calling the two of them “gentlemen.” The crowd started booing again, and Arminio’s microphone was cut off.
McBride said on stage she wanted Arminio to stay and be able to talk about his platform, but organizers held firm.
Arminio told 6abc he planned to address the incident. He did not immediately respond to The Inquirer’s request for comment.
The Human Rights Campaign describes the political climate for transgender people and the LGBTQ+ community as an ongoing crisis amid legislative hostility, federal rollbacks, and discrimination. The organization estimates there are more than 2 million transgender people across the country.
Experts say misgendering a trans person can range in severity from a microaggression or macroaggression to explicit harassment depending on the intent, frequency, and context. Studies show the LGBTQ+ community is more likely to experience harassment, discrimination, and violence than cisgender and heterosexual people.
McBride, who was previously a state senator, has been targeted by transphobic attacks across her career.
After being elected to Congress, Rep. Nancy Mace (R., S.C.) introduced a resolution banning transgender women from using women’s facilities in the U.S. Capitol. Speaker Mike Johnson also implemented a policy restricting restroom access in the Capitol and House offices to a person’s “biological sex,” which experts say is a politicized term to describe someone’s assigned sex at birth.
The policies were viewed as a way to directly target McBride, the only openly trans person serving in either chamber. McBride has also been repeatedly misgendered.
Last year, Rep. Keith Self (R., Texas) called McBride “Mr. McBride.” She quipped back, calling him “Madame Chair.” Others stepped in on McBride’s behalf, but the exchange got heated, and the session ended early with Self refusing to honor McBride’s identity.
Other House Republicans have continued to use male pronouns and honorifics while referring to McBride during interviews, debates, and on social media.
The representative has worked across the aisle with politicians whose views on the LGBTQ+ community don’t align with hers. She says her job in public office is to represent her state’s priorities and, in turn, normalize trans visibility.
At the forum, Mike Katz, a former Democratic state senator and now the GOP’s endorsed candidate for U.S. Senate, said Arminio’s actions were uncalled for and apologized to the crowd. Following the event, in a lengthy Facebook post, he called for Arminio to withdraw from the race, calling it a matter of “respect.”
Grant, the event’s moderator, said ground rules were shared with candidates in advance and were clear: “treat everyone on stage with respect.”
“When a candidate declined to do so after a clear and public warning, the rules were applied — as they would have been for any candidate, of any party, on any subject,” he said. “I want the focus to remain where it belongs: on the nine candidates who spent the evening answering voters’ questions thoughtfully and civilly, and on the hundreds of Delawareans who came, in person and online, to listen.”
McBride appears to be taking the incident in stride.
“I am always so proud to represent Delaware and Delawareans,” she wrote in a statement Friday. “Nothing — and certainly not politicians seeking to go viral — will ever distract me from my laser focus on lowering the cost of gas, groceries, housing, childcare, and healthcare.”
