The French town Tilloy-lez-Marchiennes has elected the nation's first openly transgender mayor.

Voters elected Marie Cau, 55, on March 15 to the town's council. The council on Saturday almost unanimously chose Cau as the town's new mayor.

Cau told French media that her gender identity was not a factor in the election, adding that she's “not an activist.”

“What's surprising is that this is surprising,” she told Agence France-Presse (AFP), NBC News reported. “They didn't vote for me or against me because I'm transgender; they voted for a program and for values.”

According to the BBC, Cau campaigned on the environment and boosting the local economy.

Cau, who transitioned 15 years ago, has lived in Tilloy-lez-Marchiennes for nearly 20 years and said that she has not experienced discrimination based on her gender identity.

She said she hopes her election shows “that transgender people can have normal social and political lives.”

Marlène Schiappa, France's minister of state for gender equality, congratulated Cau's victory.

“Trans visibility, and therefore the fight against transphobia, also requires the exercise of political or public responsibilities,” she wrote on Twitter in French.