On Monday evening, Senate Democrats voted unanimously to block a Republican-sponsored bill aimed at preventing federally funded schools from allowing transgender athletes to compete in women’s sports. In a 51-45 party-line vote, Democrats filibustered the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2025, which needed 60 votes to advance.
Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) introduced this legislation. Following the vote, he posted on X that he would “NEVER stop fighting to protect women and girls.”
Why do Democrats think this is a hill to die on is baffling. It is a losing issue for them. The majority of voters agree that biological men should not be allowed to participate in women’s sports.
A New York Times/Ipsos poll conducted in January found that 79% of those surveyed were opposed to the participation of “transgender female athletes — meaning athletes who were male at birth but who currently identify as female” in women’s sports. Just 18% said they “should be allowed.”
After voting to kill the bill, Democratic Sen. John Hickenlooper of Colorado, who is up for reelection next year, equivocated. He explained that he doesn’t think “transgender women should be able to compete in women’s sports if the other women object.” [Emphasis added.]
Considering that most female athletes very much object to competing against biological men to the point where they are forfeiting games in protest, Hickenlooper’s remark sounds utterly ridiculous.
He told NBC, “Sen. Tuberville is trying to churn the social wars about something that really doesn’t exist.” He added, “I saw the ads [during the 2024 election cycle]. I think that’s the kind of ad that works once. I don’t think it’ll work again. It’s an infinitesimally small group of people that are really trying to find their ways.”
Is he nuts?
Democratic Sen. Gary Peters of Michigan also downplayed the significance of this issue. Peters told NBC that Democrats need to focus on the economy.
“This is not really an issue like in Michigan,” he said, “I think there are hundreds of thousands of athletes, there’s like two individuals that are actually in this situation. People are going to realize that it’s really been an issue that Republicans have trying to exploit.”
Retiring at the end of his current term, Peters will never have to defend his choice to voters.
On the other hand, Elissa Slotkin, the newly minted junior senator from Michigan, will. Maybe that’s why she skipped the vote.
Adam Wren, a national politics correspondent for Politico, reported that “a group of moderate Democratic consultants, campaign staffers, elected officials & party leaders gathered in Loudoun County, Virginia, for a retreat where they plotted their party’s comeback.”
They came up with a list of “20 solutions for how Democrats can regain working-class trust and reconnect with them culturally.” Number one on the list? The party should “embrace patriotism, community, and traditional American imagery.”
Call me crazy, but allowing transgender athletes to compete in women’s sports conflicts with all three of these ideals.
Democrats are able to identify the right strategy in theory but they struggle to resist making the wrong choices in practice.
Democrats can continue to defend the indefensible for as long as they want, but voters are starting to catch on. The party is losing the public’s trust — yet they keep doubling down on stupid.
Elizabeth writes commentary for The Washington Examiner. She is an academy fellow at The Heritage Foundation and a member of the Editorial Board at The Sixteenth Council, a London think tank. Please follow Elizabeth on X or LinkedIn.
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