House Democrats are brushing off Republican attacks on Rep.-elect Sarah McBride after some GOP members made clear they would attempt to keep McBride from using the women’s restrooms in the Capitol.
That’s because McBride, who will become the first openly transgender member of Congress, told them to.
After GOP Rep. Nancy Mace introduced a resolution on Monday night to ban trans people from using restrooms that align with their gender identity, specifically as a way to target McBride, some Democrats seemed flat-footed when asked how they would respond to it. Reps. Pramila Jayapal, Mary Gay Scanlon, Angie Craig, Ted Lieu and Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries either refused to answer questions about the resolution or said they wanted to see the text before responding.
By Tuesday morning, Democrats had a clear message: Republican attacks on trans people were a distraction from other issues. Sources told NOTUS that McBride had made obvious in meetings that she wanted her colleagues to talk about policy — and what Republicans weren’t doing — instead.
“This is your priority? That you want to bully a member of Congress as opposed to welcoming her to join this body, so that all of us can work together to get things done,” Jeffries said at a press conference on Tuesday morning, using the “Republicans aren’t productive” messaging. “We will not hesitate to call that out, every time they lean into their far-right extremism and ignore the things that the American people want us as members of Congress to focus on together.”
One Democratic lawmaker told NOTUS that the Congressional Equality Caucus leadership, of which McBride is a member, met on Tuesday morning to discuss several topics, but the caucus members also took the opportunity to ask McBride how to address the anti-trans rhetoric Republicans were directing at her.
“We have to stand up for you and for trans people in our district. They need to see us standing up and fighting … how do we do that without diminishing your power?” the lawmaker recalled asking McBride.
The lawmaker added that McBride said Republicans’ talking points were “a distraction” to avoid talking about how this current Congress, under GOP leadership, has been the “least productive.”
House Democrats then had to have their leadership elections for the next term. The same lawmaker told NOTUS that before the elections started, several Democrats across the ideological spectrum approached McBride to tell her they would support her however they could.
The congresswoman-elect, the lawmaker said, reiterated that Republicans’ messaging was a “distraction” and that this isn’t “her first rodeo” dealing with anti-trans rhetoric.
Another House Democrat said they’ve personally talked “extensively” with McBride and “she doesn’t want to be seen as a victim.”
“She wants us to focus on the work we’re going to do and she nobly is saying, ‘Yes, dismiss it, but also … we got work we need to to do, don’t forget that,’ and that’s what she’s telling a lot of members,” the Democrat said.
In the midst of the news cycle, McBride posted on X that she had attended an event with her constituents.
“I got to sneak away from new member orientation this weekend (shhh…perks of being driving distance from DC) to join the Brandywine Hundred Fire Company in celebrating 100 years of service to Bellefonte,” McBride said. “I’m so grateful to our dedicated fire fighters who serve and protect our community day in and day out.”
Mace, meanwhile, said she pressed Speaker Mike Johnson at the House Republican conference meeting on Tuesday morning to add her resolution to the House GOP’s rules package, which will be voted on in January. If Johnson didn’t, she told reporters that she would file the resolution as a privileged motion and force a vote on it.
Johnson refused to answer whether he’d agree to include the resolution in the rules package, but he later told AP, “We’re not going to have men in women’s bathrooms. I’ve been consistent about that with anyone I’ve talked to about this.”
Many House Republicans were seemingly supportive of the resolution at their morning conference meeting. A source in the room said GOP members clapped for Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has misgendered McBride, after she spoke in support of Mace’s bill.
Democratic Rep. Jim McGovern, ranking member of the House Rules Committee, said Mace’s bill was “disappointing” and that he was “not going to react to every single crazy thing these people do.”
When asked if Democrats should respond if Mace’s bill were added to the rules package next year, McGovern, right on cue, said, “I don’t want to waste all my time talking about the shit that they’ve put forward on an hourly basis.”
“Again, we need to focus on how do we improve the quality of life of the people of this country, and nothing [Republicans] have said or done is about that,” he added. “It’s all about appealing to the worst instincts in people, and I think that’s really unfortunate.”
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Oriana González is a reporter at NOTUS.