Dems torn over transgender issue: Centrists worry that party is ‘reading the public wrong'

Some Democrats, reeling from Republican attacks tying their party to transgender rights issues, are privately furious at their leaders and explicitly warning they need a better strategy going into 2026.

Campaign ads focusing on transgender issues were some of the most-aired attacks against Democrats, including one prolific spot from Donald Trump with the tagline: "Kamala's For They/Them. President Trump is for you." The culture war push also made its way down-ballot , targeting Democratic candidates in competitive House and Senate races . Some Democrats responded directly , while others opted to ignore it.

It's the latest instance of Democratic infighting after Trump swept every swing state in the election last week. The party is struggling to identify the best way to move forward, with many moderates arguing that identity politics and culture war issues need to take a backseat to prioritizing the country's economic concerns and worries from working class voters, according to interviews with a dozen House Democrats.

With Republicans likely controlling the legislative agenda in both chambers next Congress, House Democrats are bracing for more votes on transgender issues that will put them on the defensive, such as one on an amendment to ban the coverage of gender transition procedures under a government-funded program. The GOP cut those votes into attack ads to use against battleground members.

Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.), who sparked a firestorm of criticism recently when he said transgender girl athletes have no place in women's sports, insisted Democrats need to allow an open debate about how to defend against attacks from Republicans on transgender rights.

"I've talked to party leaders, including Hakeem [Jeffries], about this and I think Hakeem understands that we need to have these debates and discussions," Moulton said in an interview Monday. "The people who try to just shut down this debate, they're the ones in the end who will cause the most harm."

Other moderate Democrats also argue the party has become complacent — that leaders need to respond to GOP criticisms more directly and address the fact that some Democratic positions on transgender issues, including minors seeking gender-affirming treatment, do not align with the majority of the country.

The group of about a dozen moderates are particularly peeved about House leadership's handling of GOP-pushed votes on transgender issues over the past two years, saying leaders should not have whipped against GOP-led measures like legislation banning school athletic programs from allowing transgender athletes in sports. They also say leadership should have had a clear explanation for why the party opposed those votes, one that would make sense to constituents in purple districts.

Not doing so, some argue, is a clear indication that their leaders are out of touch with a wide swath of voters.

"A left-winger from Massachusetts shouldn't be whip," griped a purple-district Democrat, granted anonymity to speak frankly, referring to Minority Whip Katherine Clark .

House Democrats have their leadership elections scheduled for next week, though no challenges to their existing leaders are expected.

Meanwhile, progressives are stewing at what they see as the willingness of centrists to blame their political woes on a minority group. Many in the party are loath to lean too far into a social issue that often trips up lawmakers, but they don't want to forsake key parts of the Democratic base either.

"There is no poll result that could make me turn on marginalized people," said progressive Rep. Summer Lee (D-Pa.). "What I challenge us to do is find maybe better or different ways to protect folks, and better and different ways to lift up the messaging that we need that resonates with the people who need to hear and understand this message. But throwing anybody in our coalition under the bus just simply cannot be the answer."

Although no Democrats explicitly campaigned on transgender rights, nor was it a prominent part of Democrats' platform this cycle, Republicans used it against them frequently in battleground races.

"I was attacked on the trans issues. They did that all over the country," said Rep.-elect Kristen McDonald Rivet (D-Mich.), who won a Trump district and said she'd "immediately pivoted" in her ads to talking about economic issues. "We had a conversation with the voters about what was possible for our communities. And so then a lot of that ended up becoming noise."

Many liberals have blamed their election losses on deeper problems, like Kamala Harris' shortened campaign and struggles to differentiate herself from President Joe Biden, as well as the demoralization of the Democratic base. They also cited advice her campaign received to adopt "Republican-lite" positions, according to preliminary analysis and talking points prepared by progressive staff obtained by POLITICO.

"Harris was counseled to position herself closely with conservatives in the political establishment and a wing of the billionaire class, with limited effectiveness. Harris campaigned four times in October with Liz Cheney, more than with any other ally. She appeared with Mark Cuban more than UAW's Shawn Fain," the memo stated. "We did not offer a meaningful contrast to Republicans celebrating billionaires and corporations — instead, the Republican-lite advice yielded no electoral benefits."

There's already been intra-party backlash for Democrats who oppose transgender women playing in women's sports. Moulton's comments drew the ire of local electeds and Democratic activists, as well as a rebuke from Massachusetts Democratic Party Chair Steve Kerrigan. A city councilor in Salem, Moulton's hometown, called for him to resign .

Rep.-elect Sarah McBride (D-Del.), the first openly transgender member of Congress, had more blame for Republicans than her own party, accusing the GOP of using transgender issues to distract voters from problems that affect them more directly. She pointed out that she "didn't run on my identity, but my identity was not a secret" and she performed well in her election — though Delaware is a solidly blue state.

"Donald Trump was trying to divide and distract from the fact that he has absolutely no policy solutions for the issues that are actually keeping voters up at night," she added. Transgender issues are deeply personal for other House Democrats, too; some have openly transgender children or family members.

Still, that hasn't stopped some centrists from publicly urging the party to find a more effective way to counter Republicans' messaging on transgender issues.

"They make those issues into ads and, part of that is, the Democrats set that up for them," said Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas), who is facing federal bribery charges and also had a closer-than-expected race as South Texas border counties flipped to Trump.

"Transgender, pro-choice, I understand that, but the problem is that Democrats sometimes underestimate or don't read the general public, and if they think that those are the big issues for the general public in rural America or in South Texas ... they're reading the public wrong," he added.

The issue was front and center in the competitive Texas Senate race, where Sen. Ted Cruz repeatedly hit Democrats and his unsuccessful rival, Rep. Colin Allred , for votes that opposed transgender women playing in women's interscholastic sports.

"The message is: Stop with the identity politics," said Rep. Greg Landsman (D-Ohio), a centrist from a purple district. "To the far left and the far right, stop with identity politics."