Transgender Navy SEAL to primary Steny Hoyer

Kristin Beck, a transgender former Navy SEAL, is mounting a challenge against the second-ranking Democrat in the House.

Beck on Monday filed the paperwork to run in the Democratic primary against Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), according to Maryland elections records.

“You can help by getting the word out. … Follow, tweet, viral grassroots determination to change out the old guard,” Beck’s Facebook page said Wednesday.

{mosads}“For the last two or three years I have been watching Congress very closely, and the reality is that the whole process has broken down and our representatives have simply dug in their heels,” Beck told The Huffington Post on Thursday.

“I like Steny,” she said on “Nation First” on Monday. “He’s been here for over 30 years. He’s done a really good job, I just think it’s time… . You need to pass the baton onto younger generations.”

Beck served in the Navy for 20 years and is the first openly transgender former U.S. Navy SEAL.

She has served for 20 years as a Navy SEAL and deployed 13 times, including seven combat deployments. Beck served on the SEALs’ elite counter-terrorism unit known as SEAL Team Six.

Beck retired in 2011 and began transitioning to a woman at that time, beginning hormone therapy in 2013. 

This story has been corrected to reflect that Beck served for 20 years as a Navy SEAL.