Transgender Mayoral candidate Rosemary Ketchum stands on a closed down bridge in Wheeling Island on Friday, April 5, 2024, in Wheeling , W.Va. Transgender Mayoral candidate Rosemary Ketchum participates in a City Council meeting on Friday, April 5, 2024, in Wheeling , W.Va. Transgender Mayoral candidate Rosemary Ketchum participates in a City Council meeting On Friday, April 5, 2024, in Wheeling , W.Va.
More than a century later, a group portrait hangs in Wheeling’s city hall. Ketchum is impossible to miss: Standing next to seven men in suits, she is wearing a red dress and black heels, and has platinum blonde hair. She stands out in meetings too, with her painted-red nails and laptop adorned with a Taylor Swift sticker.
After the fire, Ketchum arrived in Wheeling as a 16-year-old in the midst of a gender transition. The family received food stamps, and Ketchum worked as a bartender after high school. She later became the first in her family to graduate college — and credits being able to live in public housing for enabling her to do so.
“I didn’t pre-ordain or assume what they would think of me — I gave them the opportunity to think for themselves,” she said. “I didn’t walk up to a door, and say like, ‘Oh, this person has a Trump sign, they’re going to hate me.’” Kellie Ahmad, a local artist and volunteer on Ketchum’s campaign, said she greatly respects how Ketchum handles her detractors.
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