Meet The Trans Woman Running for Senate in a Mormon State

In many ways, Misty Snow, 31, is an ideal candidate to displace Utah’s incumbent Republican Senator, Mike Lee, in this year’s election. Misty’s campaign platform, which focuses heavily on paid maternity leave and women’s reproductive rights, is family-friendly in a state that has more children per capita than any other in the nation. She is of the people, for the people: Misty currently works as a cashier at Harmons grocery store in Taylorsville, Utah. And she is young and progressive—but not a blue-bleeding hardline liberal—in a state that has historically voted red.

“Women’s issues matter to me, and I’m a working class person,” says Misty. “We don’t have a representative democracy anymore, and the only way to fix that is to elect people who really understand the issues that matter to Utahans.”