Democrats better be cautious in the lead-up to the 2028 presidential election. Last week’s midterms ushered in a blue tsunami, but voters still don’t like the radical leftist policy of allowing gender-confused men to play in women’s sports.
Four states had sports integrity ballot measures up for a vote: Nebraska, Arizona, Colorado, and Washington.
Arizona and Nebraska voters just approved protections for girls’ sports and spaces. Washington and Colorado are leading too. Hear from the young women who’ve lived what happens when they’re not protected. This was never just about sports. It’s about the safety, identity, Show more
Obviously, Nebraska is typically a deep-red state, and this election was no different. The Cornhuskers put Initiative 442 on the ballot to amend the state constitution by stipulating that males should play in men’s sports and females in women’s sports. But they went even further by clarifying the definition of “sex”: a person’s biological reality as recorded on their original birth certificate. The initiative passed overwhelmingly: Two-thirds of Nebraskans voted like they believe in biological reality.
However, the other three states are more surprising.
In Arizona — which has been a purple state in recent years — a similar ballot measure, Proposition 318, protects women’s sports by requiring teams to be segregated based on biological sex. It also explicitly bans men from women’s locker rooms, restrooms, and other intimate spaces. Almost 60% of Grand Canyon State voters agreed with this amendment, meaning state law now protects women and girls.
But here’s where things start to get even more interesting.
Colorado — the state best known for its Rainbow Mafia attacks on Jack Phillips and where Democrats have pushed hard for every transgenderism agenda item to date — also had a sports integrity issue on the ballot last Tuesday. Proposition 134 stipulates that sports teams in kindergarten through college be designated for males, females, or both, and that children wishing to participate in those sports join a team that aligns with their biological sex. In other words, sports teams should clearly define their sex requirements, and children — unless playing on a coed team — must respect the male- or female-only designations. Colorado voters passed the measure 51.9% to 48.1%.
The results “send a powerful political message that pushing gender ideology on children is a losing issue, voters are not in favor of men in women’s sports, and protecting kids is a great unifier,” Erin Lee, who co-founded Protect Kids Colorado and whose 12-year-old daughter fell victim to gender ideology in middle school, told the Colorado Sun. “We’ve proven that these issues transcend party lines.”
As if to underscore Lee’s point, it’s noteworthy that the Centennial State also voted to ban gender mutilation surgeries for minors with their passing of Proposition 135.
Finally, the bluest of the blue states, Washington, voted on Initiative 638. This measure not only bans gender-confused males from competing in girls’ K-12 sports but also requires that a participant’s sex be verified by a medical provider. (Since doctors already provide physical examinations, sex verification shouldn’t be controversial.) Evergreen State voters approved the measure 56.5% to 43.5%. (As of publishing, 88% of the votes are counted, but the margin is large enough to call it.)
Tuesday’s blue tsunami was not a mandate for radicalism, particularly on cultural issues. Time will tell whether the Marxists in Washington, DC, got the message or whether they intend to soldier on regardless of what their constituents are actually telling them. If they push too hard on allowing men to play against women in sports, the pushback in 2028 will likely be swift.
