For most of Wednesday’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on protecting women’s sports, not a single Democratic senator was in attendance.
The only two Democrats to show up at all were ranking member Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn. Both of them left within the first hour of the hearing and Klobuchar never spoke. The Democrats also did not host a single witness for the hearing.
Durbin’s devoted much of his opening testimony to dismissing the issue of trans athletes in women’s sports, bringing up issues like affordability, getting cell phones out of the hands of children, AI and trust in government.
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Prior to leaving, Durbin would “refuse to treat this hearing like a responsible exercise of this committee. I will not ask questions, and I already did not call any witnesses.” He left shortly thereafter.
OutKick reached out to all 10 Democratic members about their absence for either the majority of or the entire hearing. Only Durbin’s office responded, saying, “Sen. Durbin explained his position during his opening statement this morning.”
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The only times Durbin addressed the issue of the hearing was when he raised concerns for the LGBTQ community, citing a study by the Trevor Project that found young LGBTQ+ people are at a “higher risk of suicide,” and potential sex verification checks for female athletes as a result of protective measures for women’s sports, while calling measures a “vendetta.”
“We can all agree that we want to be fair and safe in women’s athletics, but this vendetta against a small number of people in the trans community affects everyone, including cisgender girls, who can be subject to inappropriate gender verification checks,” Durbin said.
When asked for clarification about the substance of those concerns, Durbin’s office pointed to a press release from March 2025 that stated measures to protect women’s sports would “subject women and girls to physical inspection by an adult if someone from an opposing team accused them of being transgender.”
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., told OutKick in person that he didn’t go to the hearing because he had a classified briefing on the Iran war.
When asked his overall stance on the issue of protecting women’s sports, Blumenthal said, “I’m not going to talk about it in the hallway here.”
The concerns were peddled by Democrats last year ahead of voting for the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act, but were never substantiated in any language within the bill or even any examples of such examinations being used elsewhere. The only verification that advocated and GOP lawmakers have publicly advocated for is cheek swab DNA testing.
The Democrats’ original messaging about concerns over potential invasive gender tests ahead of voting on last year’s bill prompted strong backlash, including within their own base.
The party’s overall stance on the issue of trans athletes in women’s sports has been unpopular. Polls by the New York Times, Quinnipiac and Pew Research Center have all shown that more than 70% of Americans believe women’s sports should not permit biological males to compete.
Ahead of the 2026 midterms, many Democrats have distanced themselves from past support of trans athletes without explicitly backpedaling or changing their stance on the issue.
The absence of most Democratic Senate Judiciary Committee members at Wednesday’s hearing is in line with that recent pattern, as the witnesses and Republican members in attendance criticized the Democrat absence.
Sen. Darline Graham, R-N.C., said, “I’m also disappointed our Democratic colleagues left the room, because I think the risk of physical harm is real and has already happened.”
Sen. John Kennedy, R-La. criticized the Democrats, saying, “I’m a little disappointed that my Democratic colleagues left. It’s their right, but I’m disappointed.”
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Sen. Ashley Moody, R-Fla. was the most critical of the Democrats who left.
“The reason why it is going now from one Republican senator to another Republican senator is because there’s not one Democratic senator here to ask those that are actually involved as females in female sports about the dangers and missed opportunities and challenges for what’s been happening across our nation for our young women and girls,” Moody said.
“Shockingly, not one female Democratic senator has engaged in this hearing or asked you any questions about your experiences, your concerns, your fears based on your backgrounds, [or] what you predict may happen in the future if we don’t, as you said, lead.
“I assume that was because he’s trying to justify why not one woman on the other side of the aisle showed up to ask these questions and engage.”
Currently, there are 23 states in the U.S. that do not have rules prohibiting biological males from competing in women’s sports. California, Maine and Minnesota have engaged in legal battles with President Donald Trump’s administration over the issue after Trump signed an executive order to protect women’s sports last February.
