Who Fell Flat in the Transgender-Athletes Amendment Fight?

By Jim Geraghty

Monday, March 23, 2026

 

The New York Times headline declares, “G.O.P. Bid to Target Transgender Athletes Falls Flat in the Senate.”

 

Now, it did “fall flat” in the sense that the proposed amendment did not reach the 60 votes needed to be added to the SAVE Act, nor did it or the SAVE Act become law. But it didn’t “fall flat” in the sense that it didn’t get more votes than the other side did; 49 senators voted for the motion to invoke cloture on the amendment, and 41 senators voted against it. As the Times itself notes, “no Democrat rose to speak against the transgender proposals.”

 

Those of you who are good at math will notice that adds up to only 90 senators voting in the motion to invoke cloture; Democrats Chris Coons of Delaware, John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, Tim Kaine of Virginia, Mark Kelly of Arizona, and Dick Durbin of Illinois missed the vote, as well as Republicans John Curtis of Utah, Tim Sheehy and Steve Daines of Montana, and Rand Paul of Kentucky.

 

Democratic senators probably had a good reason for not wanting to speak against the GOP proposal.

 

Gallup found in May that 69 percent of U.S. adults continue to believe that transgender athletes should only be allowed to play on sports teams that match their birth sex. Among independents, 72 percent hold that position, and even 41 percent of self-identified Democrats hold that position.

 

So every Democratic senator running for reelection this year will face attack ads that they voted to keep transgender athletes in girls’ sports. Sure, Republicans would have preferred to pass the measure, but now every incumbent Democratic senator has taken an unpopular vote or skipped it, and advocates for transgender athletes in girls’ sports know that Democratic senators will vote their way but don’t want to defend that vote. For “falling flat,” that’s not so bad.