More than a decade of military service came to an unwelcome end last year for Sabrina Bruce, but rather than retreating from government work, she hopes to continue serving, shifting her focus to the local community that embraced her as soon as she arrived.
Bruce officially obtained enough signatures last month to qualify for the ballot in the upcoming Herndon Town Council elections. If she wins one of six open seats on Nov. 3, she would become the first openly transgender person elected to any office in Fairfax County.
“I found nothing but inclusion and respect here in Herndon,” said Bruce, who has resided in the town since 2022. “So, after so long moving around in the military, it’s been a great change to be able to have a home where I can belong and a place where I feel like nobody is concerned about my history when it comes to being transgender. It’s just a fact of who I am.”
After joining the Air Force in 2013, Bruce became one of the first enlisted members of the U.S. Space Force when the new military branch was established in 2019 under President Donald Trump’s first administration.
According to an Advocate profile, she initially viewed the military as an avenue to escape the small town in South Carolina where she was struggling, but she quickly thrived in an environment that supported her — even after she started transitioning in 2017.
Bruce describes the process of accepting her true gender identity and having it affirmed as life-changing, akin to being able to “see in color after living in black and white for so long.” Transitioning also led to improvements in her performance at work.
“I was able to show up to work, get my job done, and perform at the levels that I was always able to, but had so many distractions because I was dealing with this internal turmoil,” she told FFXnow in an interview. “… That’s the real strength of policies that favor inclusion. It’s just giving people a chance to be comfortable with themselves, so they can bring their best self to work and they can show up and do their job more effectively.”
During her 12 years in the military, Bruce was stationed in Africa, the United Kingdom and South Korea before moving to Herndon for an assignment in the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) in Chantilly, where she served as a legislative liaison.
Bruce was one of approximately 1,000 troops who “voluntarily” separated from the military in May 2025 after the U.S. Supreme Court let the Trump administration enforce a ban on transgender service members. A federal court in D.C. granted class action status on July 2 to an ongoing lawsuit challenging the executive order, which was ruled unconstitutional by an appeals court on June 1.
Despite the disappointment of being forced to end a career she loved, Bruce is channeling her commitment to public service into local politics. On top of running for Herndon Town Council herself, she managed fellow ousted Space Force veteran Bree Fram’s Congressional campaign until it ended in May after the Virginia Supreme Court voided the results of the April 21 redistricting referendum.
Traffic safety, affordable housing among priorities
Seeing the opportunity to serve her adopted home as a “silver lining of losing my career,” Bruce sums up her priorities succinctly as the “three T’s”: transit, transparency and transformation.
Bruce’s transportation safety advocacy stems in part from an experience in 2023, when she witnessed a cyclist get hit by a car on Elden Street.
“I stopped my car in the road on Elden Street, and I got out, picked her up, and got her to the sidewalk,” she recalled. “I was standing there with her, and we were waiting for the ambulance, waiting for the police, and I’m just questioning why this person almost died for simply riding a bicycle on the road.”
While the Roadway Safety Action Plan adopted by the current town council in April identifies potential improvements, Herndon leaders still need to dedicate funding to ensure those recommendations are actually implemented, Bruce noted, citing additional crosswalks on Herndon Parkway and protections for the bicycle lanes on Van Buren Street as examples of projects she would support.
When it comes to transparency, Bruce says her commitment to responding promptly to requests and concerns from the community would be informed by her past work as an NRO legislative liaison, which involved handling Congressional inquiries and assisting members of the public.
“People were reaching out to their Congressperson because they need help. It usually wasn’t their first option. It was something they were resorting to because they were just so frustrated with the system,” she said. “And it’s the same when you’re a council person. People reach out to you. It’s your responsibility to respond quickly and get them the help they need.”
The “transformation” part of Bruce’s platform looks to the future, as the Town of Herndon adapts to population, development and economic changes, along with the arrival of Metro.
With work underway on a comprehensive plan for 2050, Bruce says she’s concerned about rising costs pushing residents out of town and, if elected, would advocate for requiring or incentivizing the inclusion of affordable housing in future developments, especially around the Herndon Metro station.
She would also work with developers to find ways to fill or redevelop vacant properties, including the “albatross” that is Comstock Companies’ abandoned 5-acre downtown redevelopment site. The mostly vacant land has been stuck in a legal limbo, as the town attempts to regain ownership after Comstock backed out of plans to build housing, retail, an arts center and a parking garage in December 2024.
“Any new development needs to make sure it takes into account the character of downtown,” Bruce said when asked what she’d like to see happen with the Comstock property.
“In the Metro area, larger, big, mixed-use development, that’s what’s appropriate down there,” she continued. “But in the downtown area, smaller, quainter buildings that mesh with the scene of downtown and fit that culture there is more appropriate.”
Other newcomers in the running for Herndon Town Council this November include nurse Douglas Mejia, Fairfax County Park Authority employee Yasmin Shafiq and Herndon Planning Commission Vice Chair Meron Yohannes.
Bruce says she’s campaigning alongside Shafiq and Yohannes, since they share similar priorities and visions for the future of Herndon.
“For the people of Herndon, it’s an honor to be in this election, and it’s an honor to have been trusted so much and to get on the ballot,” Bruce said. “… I promise to be a leader who shows up and a leader who leads by example.”
