Sabrina Ashlee Bruce is an American political candidate and retired non-commissioned military officer. She was one of the first enlisted members of the United States Space Force, where she served as a cyber warfare specialist and congressional liaison with the National Reconnaissance Office. She was forced to resign from the Space Force following President Donald Trump's Executive Order 14183, which banned transgender people from military service. In 2026, Bruce announced her candidacy for the Herndon, Virginia town council.
Early life and education Bruce grew up in South Carolina. She studied information technology at Colorado State University.
Career Military Bruce enlisted in the United States Air Force in 2013, when she was twenty-two years old. In 2016, she deployed to Africa, where she served in Djibouti. She was also deployed to the United Kingdom and South Korea. Bruce worked in information technology in the Air Force.
She received three promotions, from senior airman to master sergeant. Bruce served as a cyber warfare specialist and U.S. Congressional liaison.
In 2019, she became one of the first enlisted members of the newly-established United States Space Force. Despite the implementation of President Donald Trump's Presidential Memorandum on Military Service by Transgender Individuals in 2019, Bruce was not removed from the military because she had come out as transgender prior to the introduction of the new policy. In 2022, she took an assignment in the National Reconnaissance Office in Chantilly.
Following President Trump's Executive Order 14183, barring transgender people from military service, Bruce was placed on administrative leave before taking a voluntary separation from the Space Force in 2025, meaning she resigned without being subject to a medical investigation.
Politics Bruce is a member of the Democratic Party of Virginia. She decided to enter politics after meeting Virginia state senator Danica Roem during a Victory Institute training in Los Angeles in 2025.
In 2026, Bruce was the campaign manager for Colonel Bree Fram's bid for the Virginia's 11th congressional district. Later that year, she ran for a seat on the town council for Herndon, Virginia. Her campaign platforms transit and pedestrian safety, affordable housing, and community engagement. If she wins a seat on the town council, she will become the first openly transgender elected official in Fairfax County, Virginia.
Personal life Bruce is an openly trans woman and began her gender transition, including hormone replacement therapy, in October 2017. In January 2018, she legally changed her name and had her information updated in the military records to reflect her gender transition.
Bruce is married to a British national. She moved to Herndon, Virginia in 2022.
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