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New Jersey and Virginia Gubernatorial election have every democratic candidates with a congressional record to support trans athletes in women’s sports.
Mikie Sherrill from New Jersey and Abigail Spanberger from Virginia has been investigated in recent days for their attitude towards the subject.
Spanberger was the subject of a recent viral interview with ABC13 when she was asked about transgender people who played women’s and girls’ sports and used women’s bathrooms. The democratic candidate did not take a concrete attitude.
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“So in Virginia, until recently, we have had a process in place where on an individual, one by one basis, schools, principals, parents, coaches made decisions based on justice, competitiveness and security where a child may or may not be able to play in a particular sport,” Spanberger said.
When asked if she would support a bill that allows transgender people in female bathrooms and sports, Spanberger said, “I would support a bill that would put clear provisions in place that gives a lot of local ability for input, based on children’s age, based on the type of sport based on competitiveness. Because I definitely acknowledge I absolutely recognize.
“I recognize the concern that families and members of society have about the security of their own children, about competitiveness, about justice. And I think the process that was in place for 10 years was one who worked. It was someone who took individual circumstances and individual communities into account, and I think it is the process that Virginia should continue to exploit.”
Spanberger was a co-sponsor of the Equality Act in 2021, which “prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity and sex characteristics”, and then in 2023 she voted against the protection of women and girls in the sports law who would have protected female athletes from trans competitors nationally.
Meanwhile, Sherill has been the subject of criticism on social media for his congress record on the issue.
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Former University of Pennsylvania Women’s Swimmer and Women’s Sports Activist Paula Scanlan, the first Upenn swimmer to talk about the school’s Lia Thomas Controvers in 2022, called Sherrill on X over the subject this week.
Like Spanberger, Sherrill also sponsored the Equality Act, but Sherrill also sponsored the transient Bill of Rights, which more explicitly “guarantees certain rights of trans-brine and non-binary people with regard to public services and accommodation,” including sports teams that are in line with gender identity.
Sherrill also voted against the protection of women and girls in the Sports Act twice when the bill was only proposed in 2023, and again last February when it was reinstated.
New Jersey GOP attacked Sherrill for this record directly on a campaign graphic last week.
Sherrill’s opponent, Republican Jack Ciattarelli, mentioned this question for Sherrill in a post back in July.
Pakinomist Digital has reached both Sherrills and Spanberger’s campaigns requesting clarity as to why they voted as they did on the previous bills and whether they would enforce President Donald Trump’s “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” executive order as governor of their respective states. None of the campaign has given an answer.
Back in January, a New York Times/Ipsos Survey Found the vast majority of Americans, including a majority of Democrats, do not think transnry athletes should be allowed to compete in women’s sports. Of the 2,128 people who participated, 79% biological men who identify themselves as women said should not be allowed to participate in women’s sports.
Of the 1,025 people who identified themselves as Democrats or inclined Democrat, 67%said transkon athletes should not be allowed to compete with women. Among 1,022 Republicans, this number was 94%.
The 81 independents that were interviewed represented the group with the most reluctance to say that transnry athletes should not be allowed to compete. Just 64% said they were against it while 26% refused to answer. Only 3% of Democrats and 1% of Republicans refused to respond.
Nearly 70% of Americans say that biological men should not have permission to compete in women’s sports, according to a Gallup voting Last year.
Further data suggests that the question affected the election in 2024.
ONE National Exit Poll Director of the Women affected for America (CWA) Legislative Action Committee found that 70% of moderate voters saw the issue of “Donald Trump’s resistance to trans -transmant boys and men playing girls and women’s sports and of transient boys and men using girls and women’s bathrooms” as important to them. And 6% said that was the most important question of all, while 44% said it was “very important.”
Meanwhile, prominent democratic figures have bound by their party’s support for men in women’s sports, including Pete Buttigieg, Gavin Newsom and even Kamala Harris.
In her recent book “107 days” wrote Harris that she “agrees with the concerns of parents and athletes who are against letting Males competing with women.
“I agree with the concerns that parents and players expressed that we have to take into account biological factors such as muscle mass and unreasonable student athletic advantage when we decide who plays on which teams, especially in contact sports,” Harris wrote.
