Democrats largely avoid transgender issues in Axios questions ahead of 2028

Only one out of nearly 20 Democrats who may run for president would say definitively that a man cannot become a woman, according to a new report.

Axios questioned top Democrats who are considered possible 2028 hopefuls on trans issues, and found that “most didn’t want to talk,” including former Vice President Kamala Harris, New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, and California Gov. Gavin Newsom.

The questions were whether transgender girls who were born male should participate in girls’ sports, whether transgender youths under 18 should be allowed to be placed on puberty blockers and hormones, and, “Can a man become a woman?”

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Only former Chicago Mayor Rahn Emanuel would definitively answer, saying his responses were unchanged from an interview last year when he said a man can’t become a woman and biological boys shouldn’t play in girls’ sports.

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg also responded to the questions.

Shapiro doubled down on his previous comments that local sports officials should be the ones in charge of determining the participation of transgender athletes in sports, but his personal view was that trans youths don’t deserve an “unfair advantage on the playing field.”

A spokesperson for Buttigieg referred Axios to an NPR interview he gave last year, where he acknowledged “serious fairness issues” in the trans athlete sports debate and called for compassion for transgender people.

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Newsom spoke on his podcast last week with conservative commentator Ben Shapiro on the subject, with Shapiro accusing him of dodging the question of “whether boys can become girls.”

Newsom stumbled upon answering, saying, “Yeah, I just don’t — Well, I think, for the grace of God. Yeah.”

As Shapiro asked why it was hard to answer, Newsom said they were talking about “so few people.”

“We’re talking about so few people that are struggling with gender identity issues. A lot of remarkable people, a lot of wildly successful people, and they’ve gone on in their life to have incredible lives. I don’t know. There’s so much hate and bigotry, so much condemnation.”

Shapiro said it wasn’t an act of bigotry to declare boys cannot become girls.

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Newsom, widely considered a frontrunner if he makes an expected bid for the 2028 nomination, said during a discussion last year with Charlie Kirk that it was “deeply unfair” for transgender females to compete in girls’ sports.

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