Rosemary Ketchum

Ketchum was born c. 1993 and raised in East Liverpool, Ohio.^[1][2] Her mother worked as a waitress and bartender and her father worked at a porcelain factory.^[2] As a child, Ketchum's family was homeless after their home burned down.^[3] She moved to West Virginia with her parents.^[4] She earned degrees in psychology from West Virginia Northern Community College and Wheeling Jesuit University in 2019.^[4]

Ketchum worked was a community organizer, serving as the associate director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness of Greater Wheeling in Wheeling, West Virginia.^[3][1] She is a member of the Wheeling human rights commission and served on the board of the West Virginia American Civil Liberties Union.^[1]

On July 12, 2019, Ketchum announced that she would seek election to the Wheeling city council from Ward 3.^[5] On June 9, 2020, she won the non-partisan municipal election against Peggy Niebergall, Jerome Henry, and Erick Marple, becoming the first transgender person elected to political office in West Virginia.^[6][7][8] Following her victory she was praised by Annise Parker, the former Mayor of Houston, Texas, and congratulated by GLAAD.^[9] Ketchum is the subject of the 2020 West Virginia Public Broadcasting documentary Rosemary.^[10] She was a candidate for mayor of Wheeling in the 2024 election, coming in second against Denny Magruder.^[11][12]

• LGBT rights in West Virginia
• List of LGBT politicians in the United States
• List of transgender public officeholders in the United States
• List of transgender political office-holders