Misty Snow

{{Infobox politician

|name = Misty Snow

|image = Misty Snow (30523743970 cropped).jpg

|birth_date = {{birth date and age|1985|7|19}}

|birth_place = Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S.

|death_date =

|death_place =

|party = Democratic

|website =

}}

Misty Kathrine Snow (born July 19, 1985){{cite news|last1=Scheer|first1=Robert|title=Misty K. Snow, the First Major-Party Transgender Nominee for U.S. Senate|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-scheer/misty-k-snow-the-first-ma_b_12419494.html|work=The Huffington Post|date=October 9, 2016|access-date=October 22, 2016|archive-date=October 23, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161023053813/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-scheer/misty-k-snow-the-first-ma_b_12419494.html|url-status=live}} is an American political candidate who was one of the first openly transgender people in the United States to have been nominated by a major political party for a federal office.{{cite web|title=The First Trans U.S. Senate Candidate Is Already Making History|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/misty-k-snow-transgender_us_577fd846e4b01edea78dad24|last=Signorile|first=Michelangelo|date=10 July 2016|website=Huffington Post|publisher=|access-date=18 September 2017|quote=|archive-date=15 September 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170915133546/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/misty-k-snow-transgender_us_577fd846e4b01edea78dad24|url-status=live}}{{cite news|title=Two transgender candidates — both named Misty — just made history by winning primaries|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/06/29/two-transgender-candidates-both-named-misty-just-made-history-by-winning-house-and-senate-primaries/|last=Phillips|first=Amber|date=29 June 2016|newspaper=Washington Post|publisher=|access-date=18 September 2017|quote=|archive-date=22 September 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170922195019/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/06/29/two-transgender-candidates-both-named-misty-just-made-history-by-winning-house-and-senate-primaries/|url-status=live}} Snow was the Democratic nominee in the 2016 United States Senate election in Utah. This also made her the first transgender person to become a nominee for the United States Senate as well as the first LGBT person to be a major-party nominee for statewide office in Utah.{{cite news|title=Two transgender candidates named Misty nominated in Colorado, Utah primaries|url=https://www.foxnews.com/politics/two-transgender-candidates-named-misty-nominated-in-colorado-utah-primaries|work=FOXNews.com|publisher=FOX News Network|date=June 29, 2016|access-date=July 1, 2016|archive-date=July 2, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160702065256/http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2016/06/29/two-transgender-candidates-named-misty-nominated-in-colorado-utah-primaries.html|url-status=live}}{{cite news|last1=Canham|first1=Matt|title=Utah's Misty Snow makes history as Democrats' transgender Senate nominee|url=http://www.sltrib.com/home/4060147-155/us-senate-misty-k-snow-takes|work=The Salt Lake Tribune|date=June 28, 2016|access-date=July 1, 2016|archive-date=July 2, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160702164912/http://www.sltrib.com/home/4060147-155/us-senate-misty-k-snow-takes|url-status=live}}

Early life

Snow was born in 1985 in Salt Lake City and has lived in Salt Lake County, Utah for her entire life. She worked in a grocery store and comes from a working-class family.{{cite web|title=Bio|url=http://www.mistyksnow.com/bio/|website=Misty K. Snow for U.S. Senate|accessdate=October 22, 2016|archive-date=October 23, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161023050934/http://www.mistyksnow.com/bio/|url-status=live}} She was raised as a Latter-Day Saint, but as she grew up, she left the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.{{cite news|last1=Greene|first1=David|title=Misty Snow Aims To Be The Nation's First Transgender Senator|url=https://www.npr.org/2016/07/05/484756556/misty-snow-aims-to-be-the-nation-s-first-transgender-senator|website=npr.org|publisher=KUER 90.1|quote=Snow: You know, I was raised LDS myself so I kind of know that culture. Most of my family's LDS. A lot of my friends are LDS. ... I didn't, like, have a lot of support to transition when I was younger, so I ended up doing it kind of more, like, a more - like, over the last few years. ... Yeah. When I was, like (unintelligible) I didn't have support from my mother to transition and, you know, so I put that off for a long time.|access-date=2018-01-01|archive-date=2018-01-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180101082330/https://www.npr.org/2016/07/05/484756556/misty-snow-aims-to-be-the-nation-s-first-transgender-senator|url-status=live}}As seen on Chelsea, Chelsea Handler's Netflix show, season 1, "Whoa, I'm a Pop Star" She is the daughter of Linda Pace and the eldest of four children.{{Cite news|url=https://people.com/celebrity/misty-k-snow-first-major-party-transgender-candidate-for-u-s-senate/|title=Meet Misty K. Snow, the Nation's First Major-Party Transgender Candidate for U.S. Senate|work=PEOPLE.com|access-date=2018-11-05|language=en|archive-date=2018-11-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181105205651/https://people.com/celebrity/misty-k-snow-first-major-party-transgender-candidate-for-u-s-senate/|url-status=live}}{{Cite news|url=http://archive.sltrib.com/article.php?id=3879825&itype=CMSID|title=Misty K. Snow running for Senate as a progressive who just happens to be transgender|work=The Salt Lake Tribune|access-date=2018-11-05|language=en-US|archive-date=2018-11-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181105202630/http://archive.sltrib.com/article.php?id=3879825&itype=CMSID|url-status=live}}

Career

Snow was the first openly transgender candidate to win a major party primary for the U.S. Senate.{{cite news |author=Maria L La Ganga in Denver |url=https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/jul/04/transgender-nominee-congress-misty-plowright |title=Transgender nominee for Congress: 'It's about damn time' politics got inclusive | Society |newspaper=The Guardian |date=2016-07-04 |access-date=2016-07-10 |archive-date=2019-04-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190414064715/https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/jul/04/transgender-nominee-congress-misty-plowright |url-status=live }} She won the Democratic primary, defeating fellow Democrat Jonathan Swinton 59.5% to 40.5%.{{cite news|title=Utah Senate Races Results|url=https://www.politico.com/2016-election/primary/results/map/senate/utah/|publisher=Politico|date=September 27, 2016|access-date=November 6, 2016|archive-date=November 7, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161107155442/http://www.politico.com/2016-election/primary/results/map/senate/utah/|url-status=live}}

On November 8, 2016, with 27% of the vote, Snow lost her Senate bid to Republican incumbent Mike Lee, who received 68% of the vote.{{Cite web|url=https://electionresults.utah.gov/elections/federal|title=Utah statewide federal results|website=Utah Secretary of State|access-date=July 31, 2017|archive-date=February 25, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170225133719/https://electionresults.utah.gov/elections/federal|url-status=live}}

= Political positions =

Snow is a progressive and self-described Bernie Sanders-like Democrat. Policy priorities include increasing the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour, paid maternity leave, expansion of Medicare and Medicaid, clean energy, and LGBT nondiscrimination efforts.{{cite news|last1=Brighe|first1=Mari|title=Meet the Woman Who Could Become the First Out Trans U.S. Senator|url=http://www.advocate.com/transgender/2016/6/30/utah-democrat-misty-k-snow-could-become-first-out-trans-us-senator|work=ADVOCATE|publisher=Here Media Inc.|date=June 30, 2016|access-date=July 2, 2016|archive-date=July 2, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160702041329/http://www.advocate.com/transgender/2016/6/30/utah-democrat-misty-k-snow-could-become-first-out-trans-us-senator|url-status=live}}

= U.S. House race =

On April 13, 2017, Snow formally announced her run against Chris Stewart, the Republican incumbent representative for Utah's 2nd congressional district.{{cite news|last1=Bowden|first1=John|title=Transgender candidate Misty Snow announces House bid in Utah|url=https://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/328733-transgender-senate-candidate-misty-snow-announces-house-bid/|work=The Hill|publisher=NEWS COMMUNICATIONS, INC.|date=April 13, 2017|access-date=April 13, 2017|archive-date=October 9, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211009065601/https://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/328733-transgender-senate-candidate-misty-snow-announces-house-bid|url-status=live}} She dropped out of the race in March 2018, and the Democratic candidate was instead Shireen Ghorbani.