UPDATED Aug. 5 9:30 a.m
Bailey Anne Kennedy of Silver Spring did not advance to the finals of Sunday night’s Miss USA pageant. Alma Cooper, Miss Michigan, was crowned during the 73rd annual contest.
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Maryland’s contestant in this week’s Miss USA contest hails from Silver Spring.
Bailey Anne Kennedy, 31, was born in Cambodia and came to America thanks to humanitarian efforts of the U.S. Ambassador and Thai officials, according to her biography on the contest website.
She was 11 when she came here with her family. Twenty years later, she entered her first pageant.
Kennedy has a number of firsts attached to her becoming Miss Maryland. She is the first trans woman, first Asian American, first Cambodian immigrant, first military spouse and first woman older than the traditional age of 28 to win the title.
She was the first woman from the University of Maryland Baltimore Campus Dance Team to be named captain and she later pursued her NFL cheerleading career as a rookie trainee for The First Ladies of Football.
“To be able to be in this position and be able to make an impact on my community, especially with the LGBTQIA+ community, military spouses and immigrant women to be able to make such an impact,” Kennedy told ABC News. “I think that’s just something that I could never dream up, and it’s such an honor to be here.”
The pageant runs now through Aug. 4 in Los Angeles.
Congratulations 2LT Alma Cooper ‘23
👑 Miss USA 2024-25#LongGrayLine pic.twitter.com/BQmVmFL4bn— West Point AOG (@WPAOG) August 5, 2024
