Democratic Rep. Seth Moulton of Massachusetts criticized his party for “not listening” to Americans Sunday evening, days after a top campaign aide resigned following comments Moulton made regarding transgender athletes.
Moulton criticized Democrats for trying to “cancel” those with opposing viewpoints, specifically citing the issues surrounding males competing in female sports, shortly before Moulton’s campaign manager, Matt Chilliak, resigned late Thursday, according to The Boston Globe. Moulton said he had privately received support for his comments, which expressed opposition to biologically male transgender athletes competing against women, from fellow Democrats on the issue.
“There’s some public pushback while the vast majority of messages and emails, and texts and conversations I’ve been having on the street are actually incredibly supportive. And this is all from fellow Democrats, from colleagues in Congress, from some pretty senior members of the party and whatnot, who just say, you are exactly right, Seth. This is our problem. We try to cancel people rather than having debates about issues that Americans care about,” Moulton told “CNN Newsroom” host Jessica Dean. “And this is much bigger than just trans issues. This is about the economy. How is it that the Republicans are doing better on the economy, are more trusted on the economy, when Trump just wants to cut taxes for his billionaire friends and put massive tariffs in place that will raise prices, will increase inflation for everyday Americans. How is it when Trump wants to break up millions of families and communities across America by having these mass deportations, the Republicans are more trusted on the border?”
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“We’ve got to be willing to get in touch with the majority of Americans,” Moulton continued. “And we can’t do that if we do all this preaching and not listening. We have to listen to American voters, engage them in this discussion. What does it say to American voters if people in our own party can’t even have this debate?”
“Did you lose staff over this, over this debate?” Dean asked Moulton, who said he had received criticism.
“We have these debates all the time on my team, but the concern is that we’re not willing to have them as a party, and we’re just going to keep losing elections if we can’t do that,” Moulton responded.
Previously, Moulton twice co-sponsored legislation that would have overridden state-level bans on biological men competing in women’s sports, and voted against the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act, the Independent reported.
The issue of biological males who identify as transgender competing in women’s sports became controversial following Lia Thomas’s participation in the 2022 NCAA championships, where the biological male won the 500-yard women’s final.
Multiple college teams have also recently elected to forfeit matches against San Jose State University’s women’s volleyball team due to the presence of a biological male on the San Jose State roster, according to the Los Angeles Times. The transgender player spiked a ball into the face of a San Diego State University player during an Oct. 10 match, the outlet also reported.
North Carolina high school volleyball player Payton McNabb suffered a career-ending concussion when a transgender player’s spike hit her in the face in a similar play during a September 2022 volleyball match. She described the ongoing effects of her injury in an April 2023 hearing, during which she asked her state legislature to pass legislation that would ban biological men from women’s sports.
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