Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez apologized on Thursday for Democrats distancing themselves from transgender issues, calling herself a “girl’s girl.”
The New York Democrat, who appeared at an event with Maine Democratic Senate nominee Troy Jackson, was asked by a self-identified transgender university student for her reaction to transgender people feeling “abandoned” by the Democratic Party.
“I want to just let you know how shameful and sorry I am that there are people out there that scare so easily after an election,” said Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, a star of the far-left and potential 2028 presidential contender. “The moment you compromise the rights of a trans person in America, you compromise the rights of every person in America.”
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In 2024, Republicans ran ads highlighting Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris’ support of taxpayer-funded gender transitions for inmates with the stinging slogan “Kamala is for they/them, President Trump is for you.”
In 2026, Republican groups have poured millions into ads focused on transgender issues.
Some vulnerable Democrats distanced themselves from their party on the issue.
Rep. Don Davis, a North Carolina Democrat running in a swing district, has declared, “There’s real concerns about fairness” when it comes to male-born athletes in girls’ sports.
In a Pew Research Center survey published in August, nearly three-quarters of U.S. adults said they were uncomfortable with transgender athletes competing on sports teams that do not match their assigned sex at birth.
Meanwhile, Rep. Marcy Kaptur, Ohio Democrat, has run an ad boasting that she “voted with Republicans to keep transgender ideology out of our schools.”
On the campaign stage Thursday, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez said, “I support the rights of trans women because I’m a girl’s girl and I think that all of our bodily autonomy is tied together. The right to choose over our bodies is the right to choose over our bodies.”
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