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New Jersey Democrat candidate for governor Mikie Sherrill has not addressed her congressional voting record on bills related to transgender athletes in women’s sports.
President Donald Trump called out Sherrill for her stance on the issue in a Truth Social post on Thursday.
“Sherrill wants Open Borders (again!), men playing in Women’s Sports, Transgender for everyone, and all of the things that almost DESTROYED America,” Trump wrote.
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Representative Mikie Sherrill, a Democrat from New Jersey, during a news conference about a Signal messaging chat used by Trump administration officials, at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, US, on Tuesday, March 25, 2025 ( Daniel Heuer/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Fox News Digital has reached out to Sherrill’s campaign multiple times for clarification on her stance on the issue of trans athletes in women’s sports, but has not received a response.
Sherrill has been the subject of criticism on social media for her congressional voting record on the issue. She voted against the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act, twice, when the bill was first proposed in 2023, and again this past February when it was re-introduced.
Sherrill has also co-sponsored the Equality Act, but also co-sponsored the Transgender Bill of Rights, which more explicitly “guarantees certain rights for transgender and nonbinary people with respect to public services and accommodations.”
Sherrill is a self-proclaimed “advocate for women’s athletics.” She previously proposed the Women in NCAA Sports Act in the U.S. House of Representatives alongside Rep. Maria Salazar D-Fla., and led a resolution to honor Billie Jean King with the Congressional Gold Medal.
However, she has recently been the subject of criticism on social media for her congressional voting record on the issue of trans athletes in women’s sports.
Former University of Pennsylvania women’s swimmer and women’s sports activist Paula Scanlan, the first UPenn swimmer to speak up about the school’s Lia Thomas controversy in 2022, called out Sherrill on X over the issue this week.
The New Jersey GOP attacked Sherrill for this record directly in a campaign graphic last week.
Sherrill’s opponent, Republican Jack Ciattarelli, mentioned this issue for Sherrill in a post back in July.
New Jersey is the original home state of well-known transgender track and field athlete Sadie Schreiner, who previously competed for Rochester Institute for Technology and went viral multiple times for posting videos sharing the athlete’s first-hand experience as a biological male trans athlete competing against, and often dominating, females. Schreiner is from Hillsborough, according to the athlete’s RIT Athletics page.
Schreiner has filed a lawsuit against Princeton University for an alleged incident at a May 3 women’s race. Schreiner’s lawsuit claimed the athlete attempted to participate in the women’s 200-meter sprint at the Larry Ellis Invitational as one of the 141 participants unattached to a university or club. The suit alleges officials told Schreiner the athlete could not participate 15 minutes before the race began.
Schreiner alleged the university violated the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination, which designates “gender identity or expression” as a protected status.
Schreiner has since filed a second lawsuit against SUNY Genesco for being banned from a women’s race in March, per multiple reports.
INSIDE GAVIN NEWSOM’S TRANSGENDER VOLLEYBALL CRISIS
Back in January, a New York Times/Ipsos survey found the vast majority of Americans, including a majority of Democrats, don’t think transgender athletes should be permitted to compete in women’s sports. Of the 2,128 people who participated, 79% said biological males who identify as women should not be allowed to participate in women’s sports.
Of the 1,025 people who identified as Democrats or leaning Democrat, 67% said transgender athletes should not be allowed to compete with women. Among 1,022 Republicans, that number was 94%.
The 81 independents who were interviewed represented the group with the most reluctance to say transgender athletes shouldn’t be allowed to compete. Just 64% said they were against it, while 26% refused to answer. Just 3% of the Democrats and 1% of the Republicans refused to answer.
Nearly 70% of Americans say biological men should not be permitted to compete in women’s sports, according to a Gallup poll last year.
Additional data suggests the issue impacted the 2024 election.
A national exit poll conducted by the Concerned Women for America (CWA) legislative action committee found that 70% of moderate voters saw the issue of “Donald Trump’s opposition to transgender boys and men playing girls’ and women’s sports and of transgender boys and men using girls’ and women’s bathrooms” as important to them. And 6% said it was the most important issue of all, while 44% said it was “very important.”
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Meanwhile, prominent Democratic figures have backpedaled on their party’s support for males in women’s sports, including Pete Buttigieg, Gavin Newsom and even Kamala Harris.
In her recent book “107 Days,” Harris wrote that she “agrees” with the concerns of parents and athletes who oppose letting males compete with females.
“I agree with the concerns expressed by parents and players that we have to take into account biological factors such as muscle mass and unfair student athletic advantage when we determine who plays on which teams, especially in contact sports,” Harris wrote.
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