Bill to prevent males from women's sports receives no support from Senate Dems: Who were they?

No Senate Democrat on Monday voted in favor of the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act, which would keep biological males from competing in women’s and girls’ sports.

A procedural vote took place on the Senate floor and Republicans needed at least 60 votes to break the filibuster. They received 51. Sens. Angus King, I-Maine, and Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., voted with Democrats. 

Four senators were absent – Democrats Elissa Slotkin, of Michigan, and Peter Welch, of Vermont, and Republicans Shelley Capito, of West Virginia, and Cynthia Lummis, of Wyoming.

Read below for the Democratic senators who decided to keep the bill from advancing.

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Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis.

Sen. Tammy Baldwin waves after speaking at the Democratic National Convention on Aug. 22, 2024, in Chicago. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

Baldwin gave a statement to Fox News Digital on Tuesday.

"Simply put: it’s not the federal government’s place to tell state and local sports leagues across the country how to do their jobs," she said. "I for one trust our state and local leagues to craft thoughtful policy where parents and players can be involved in the discussion about what is best for our children without interference from the President or Congress."

Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev.

Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto speaks during a Senate Democrats' press conference in the U.S. Capitol on Feb. 6, 2024. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

Cortez Masto said in a statement she supported fairness in women’s sports but drew the line when it came to alleged "government overreach."

"I support fair play and safety and do not support transgender athletes competing in girls’ and women’s sports when it compromises those principles," she said in a statement. "I believe local schools, student athletes, coaches, and parents are much better equipped to implement fair, strong policies on this issue than politicians in Congress.

"This blanket legislation would allow anyone to subject girls to invasive physical exams just because of the way they look. That is incredible government overreach and is putting young women at increased risk for abuse and harassment – something I’ve spent my career fighting against."

Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill.

Senate Majority Whip Richard Durbin speaks following the weekly Senate luncheon at the U.S. Capitol on Dec. 3, 2024. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

Durbin expressed similar qualms as Cortez Masto.

"Put yourself in the shoes of these families for just a moment," Durbin said. "Imagine being the parent of a trans kid and telling your child they are not allowed to play on the same sports team as their friends at school because a politician said they couldn’t.

"It’s that personal, it’s that important, and [because of Republicans,] we’re going to vote to give someone unspecified the right to physically inspect a girl or a young woman if the other opposing team accuses them of being transgender. My goodness."

Durbin also pointed to NCAA president Charlie Baker's testimony to lawmakers when he said he believed there were fewer than 10 transgender athletes in collegiate athletics. The organization later changed its policy after President Trump's "No Men in Women's Sports" executive order.

Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa.

Sen. John Fetterman wrote his reason to vote against the bill on X. (Getty Images)

Fetterman suggested in a post on X that he chose to be an ally to the "small" contingent of transgender athletes.

"The small handful of trans athletes in PA in a political maelstrom deserve an ally and I am one. Depersonalized as ‘they/them’ in a political ad, but are just schoolchildren. Empty show votes or cruelty on social media aren’t part of a thoughtful, dignified solution."

Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz.

Sen. Ruben Gallego said his constituents were focused on other issues. (Getty Images)

Gallego downplayed the issue for his constituents in his state.

"Look, if you’re running and you don’t have any other identity and you’re not known for fighting for people to have a decent living, to buy a home, to be able to bring the American dream to their families, these outside fringe issues are what is going to bring you down," he told NBC News. 

"I’m not worried about that, because I communicate with my fellow Arizonans every day that I’m fighting for them to make sure that they get to live the American dream no matter what."

Sen. John Hickenlooper, D-Colo.

Sen. John Hickenlooper speaks at a hearing on Capitol Hill on March 1, 2023. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Hickenlooper told NBC News that Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., who introduced the bill, was "trying to churn the social wars about something that really doesn’t exist." He said Trump’s ad on trans athletes in women’s sports was only going to work once.

Sens. Tim Kaine and Mark Warner, D-Va.

Sen. Tim Kaine speaks with reporters. (Reuters)

Kaine and Warner released a joint statement, saying Congress needed to focus on other things.

"Right now, Congress should be focused on passing bills that lower grocery prices, not ones that threaten to defund public schools and gut world-class American colleges and universities," they said. "But instead, Republicans are poised to eliminate the Department of Education, while at the same time trying to dictate how individual schools should run their sports programs and subjecting children to uncomfortable scrutiny, invasive questioning, and even harassment. We will be voting to prevent this bill from moving forward and to leave the decision of how to best integrate transgender students into sports in the hands of parents, educators and state athletic associations – not the federal government."

Sen. Angus King, I-Maine

Sen. Angus King listens during an Armed Services Committee hearing on the nomination of Pete Hegseth to be secretary of defense on Jan. 14, 2025. (Jack Gruber-USA Today)

King said in a statement he understood concerns from students, parents and administrators about fairness and physicality differences but voted against the bill anyway.

"However, if one school in Maine decided to include a single trans student on one of their teams, schools across the entire state would lose access to critical funding which would be detrimental to all students, a result disproportionate to the impact of one transgender athlete at one school. While these are complex issues, considerations of fairness and safety in sports are made every day by parents, educators, and school administrators at the local level. We should keep it that way and allow local communities to decide what’s best for their districts and their students, and let states abide by the will of their citizens. In other words, I see this as a state’s rights issue which should not require a one-size-fits-all federal solution. Simply put, it is highly likely this legislation would hurt Maine and Maine students.

"Therefore, I am ultimately not comfortable conditioning all federal education funding on an issue that singles out such a small number of students nationwide – including here in Maine – and takes the decision-making power away from local communities.

"Finally, I find it odd that many of those supporting this legislation have exactly the opposite position when it comes to women’s reproductive choices – that that issue should be left to the states – while the question of transgender athletes requires a federal solution which overrides local control."

Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich.

Sen. Gary Peters speaks during the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Aug. 20, 2024. (Reuters/Mike Segar)

Peters told NBC News the issue didn’t appear to resonate with constituents in Michigan.

"This is not really an issue like in Michigan," he said. "People are going to realize that it’s really been an issue that Republicans have been trying to exploit."

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Several Democratic senators didn’t release a statement or say why they voted the way they did. 

Those lawmakers included Sens. Angela Alsobrooks, D-Md., Michael Bennet, D-Colo., Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., Lisa Blunt Rochester, D-Del., Cory Booker, D-N.J., Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., Chris Coons, D-Del., Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., Andy Kim, D-N.J., Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M., Ed Markey, D-Mass., Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., Chris Murphy, D-Conn., Patty Murray, D-Wash., Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., Alex Padilla, D-Calif., Jack Reed, D-R.I., Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, Adam Schiff, D-Calif., Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., Tina Smith, D-Minn., Chris Van Hollen, D-M.d., Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., and Ron Wyden, D-Ore.

Fox News Digital reached out to those senators for comment.

The Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act would require Title IX to treat gender as "recognized based solely on a person’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth" and would disallow any adjustment for it to apply to gender identity.

The Tuberville-backed bill had more than 40 co-sponsors in the Senate. It would also codify one of Trump's many recent executive orders, giving the policy better longevity.

A national exit poll conducted by the Concerned Women for America legislative action committee found that 70% of moderate voters saw the issue of "Donald Trump’s opposition to transgender boys and men playing girls' and women’s sports and of transgender boys and men using girls' and women’s bathrooms" as important to them.

Democrats who voted down a bill to ban trans athletes in women's sports. (Fox News)

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Additionally, 6% said it was the most important issue of all, while 44% said it was "very important."

Meanwhile, a recent New York Times/Ipsos poll found that the vast majority of Americans, including 67% of Democrats, don't believe trans athletes should be able to compete in women's sports. 

Fox News’ Jackson Thompson and Julia Johnson contributed to this report.