Competing as a non-party canditate, the born as a man woman was successful  against the candidate of the local ruling party in the rural province of Nan and took over the main office in financial management.

I would say most men have never knowingly interacted with a trans woman as a person before. Growing up in rural america, I had never even met an openly gay person until I got to college... and there are a lot more gay people out there than trans women.