Vulnerable Democrats flip on women's sports vote after opposing similar bills as midterms loom

Several vulnerable House Democrats are breaking with their party on men competing in women’s sports as Republicans continue to hammer the issue ahead of November's midterm elections.

Reps. Shomari Figures and Terri Sewell, D-Ala., joined Republicans in voting for an amendment to the annual defense policy bill Tuesday that would bar biological males from participating in women’s sports in Department of War-run schools.

The vote marked a notable shift for both Alabama Democrats, who opposed similar legislation as recently as last year, and comes as Republicans’ redistricting efforts have scrambled their re-election prospects.

Figures now represents one of the GOP's top pickup opportunities after Alabama's newly drawn congressional map added more GOP voters to his district, dramatically increasing the difficulty of his re-election bid. The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), House Republicans' campaign arm, added the freshman lawmaker to its target list last week.

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Sewell’s Black-majority seat anchored around Birmingham remained largely unchanged, though she also bucked Democratic leadership on the amendment.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., and 202 other Democrats voted against the measure. All Republicans present voted in support.

Both lawmakers voted against the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act in 2025, which barred federally funded schools from allowing biological males to participate in girls' and women’s sports.

The reversal comes as transgender issues continue to divide Democrats, with public polling showing broad opposition to transgender athletes competing in women's sports.

A New York Times/Ipsos poll conducted in 2025 found that nearly 80% of Americans opposed biological males competing in women's sports. Roughly seven in 10 Democrats or Democrat-leaning respondents agreed, according to the survey.

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Republicans sharply criticized the Alabama Democrats' votes, arguing the move reflected political necessity rather than a genuine change in position.

"Out of touch Democrats Shomari Figures and Terri Sewell are desperately trying to hide their far-left views now that it's politically expedient, but it's too little too late," NRCC spokesman Reilly Richardson told Fox News Digital.

"Alabamians know Figures and Sewell support Democrats' radical agenda of allowing men to compete in women's sports and will hold them accountable at the ballot box in November," he continued.

Figures, however, argued his views on transgender participation in women's sports have been consistent and pointed to a 2025 amendment vote restricting transgender athletes that he supported in a statement to Fox News Digital.

"As I have said before, I do not believe that men should be allowed to participate in women’s sports," Figures said. "I voted against the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act because that bill would have created an open season for pedophiles to conduct sex checks of young girls, with no safeguards."

Proponents of the measure disputed during floor debate that the legislation would put girls at risk.

Fox News Digital reached out to Sewell for comment.

Reps. Don Davis, D-N.C., and Henry Cuellar and Vicente Gonzalez, D-Texas, also voted with Republicans in favor of the Mace amendment.

The three Democrats, who are all vulnerable to GOP challengers, frequently cross party lines to support Republican-authored bills, though Davis voted "present" on the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act.

Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., who sponsored the amendment, argued the measure was intended to protect women’s sports.

"Men are not women. Men will never become women. Yet male athletes are stealing medals, invading locker rooms, and putting girls in the hospital, all in the name of gender ideology," Mace said Tuesday. "Our NDAA amendment would end this nonsense."