Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, a progressive Democrat considering a 2028 presidential run, suggested Thursday that she was sorry that some in her party had not more forcefully supported transgender Americans.
Appearing at a town hall-style event in Portland, Maine, with Troy Jackson, the Democratic nominee in the closely watched Senate race in the state, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez took a question from an audience member who said that “I and a lot of trans people in America feel that we have been abandoned by the Democratic Party.”
Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, who nodded as the question was asked, replied that she wanted the audience member to know how “sorry I am that there are people out there that scare so easily after an election.”
Some in the Democratic Party have changed the way they talk about transgender rights since the 2024 presidential election, when Donald J. Trump targeted Kamala Harris with ads declaring: “Kamala is for they/them. President Trump is for you.”
Democratic strategists judged the ads to have been highly effective, and some moderate Democrats said after the election that their party should take a harder line against the participation of transgender girls in girls’ sports, joining Republicans on the issue.
This election cycle, a number of Democrats running in battleground races have spoken out against transgender girls playing in girls’ sports, pushing back against a common attack line from Mr. Trump and other Republicans. That approach, in turn, has drawn criticism from other Democrats, who say their party is turning on a vulnerable community.
Polls show voters overwhelmingly agree with Republicans on the issue of transgender athletes’ participation in women’s sports. And some Democrats argue that siding with Republicans on the issue, while downplaying its significance, is politically prudent.
But Ms. Ocasio-Cortez argued in Maine that “the moment you compromise the rights of a trans person in America, you compromise the rights of every citizen in America.”
She tied transgender rights to women’s rights. “I support the rights of trans women because I’m a girl’s girl,” Ms. Ocasio-Cortez said.
Mr. Jackson, a progressive Democrat who is in a tight race against the Republican senator Susan Collins, nodded along to Ms. Ocasio-Cortez’s answer but did not address the question directly.
The post Ocasio-Cortez Says Democrats Should Stand Up for Trans Americans appeared first on New York Times.
