Potential Democrat presidential contender agrees that men can't become women

By Ryan Foley, Christian Post Reporter Thursday, January 22, 2026

Only one of nearly 20 Democratic presidential hopefuls agreed that men cannot become women, as the Democratic Party's position appears to stand at odds with public opinion on some issues related to gender and sexuality. 

In an article published Monday, Axios documented its efforts to get Democratic politicians viewed as potential 2028 presidential contenders to answer a series of questions about their views on a range of hot-button LGBT issues. 

“Should transgender girls be able to participate in girls’ sports? Do you believe transgender youths under age 18 should be able to be placed on puberty blockers and hormones? And what is your response to the question: ‘Can a man become a woman?’” Axios asked the potential candidates. 

The outlet said it received no responses from representatives of former Vice President Kamala Harris, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., and California Gov. Gavin Newsom.

In response to Axios’ inquiry, only Rahm Emanuel, former mayor of Chicago who also served as chief of staff to former President Barack Obama, embraced the view that men cannot become women.

When asked by podcaster Megyn Kelly if he thought “boys should be able to play in girls’ sports” and if a man can “become a woman,” Emanuel answered both questions with a “no.” He indicated to Axios that his positions have not changed since he gave those answers to Kelly. 

A spokesperson for Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro pointed to his remarks in a December 2025 interview with The Atlantic.

The governor shared his belief that members of the state’s “governing body that oversees debates related to scholastic sports” are best equipped to determine whether trans-identified males should compete in women’s sports. Shapiro also told The Atlantic that he did not want to see trans-identified male athletes competing on women’s sports teams have “an unfair advantage on the playing field.” 

At the same time, Shapiro’s spokesperson cited a lawsuit filed by the governor against the Trump administration over President Donald Trump’s executive order stripping federal funding from hospitals that perform body mutilating sex-change surgeries on trans-identified youth as evidence that he supports the LGBT community. 

A spokesperson for former Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, who is openly gay, pointed to his remarks in a July 2025 NPR interview as illustrative of the candidate’s views on the matter. In response to Emanuel’s comments, Buttigieg stressed the importance of addressing the issue with “compassion” while suggesting that it was necessary to examine his party’s “past orthodoxies” on the presence of trans-identified males in women’s sports and acknowledging the “serious fairness issues at the center of the debate."

In the aftermath of the 2024 election loss, the Democratic Party has faced questions about whether it is too focused on LGBT-related issues and whether its position is out of touch with Americans’ views on allowing trans-identified male athletes to compete in women’s sports. Democrats have also staunchly opposed laws that prohibit the provision of irreversible sex-change procedures and hormone drugs to trans-identified youth at a time when scientific consensus has yet to be reached on whether such interventions improve mental health conditions. 

Research conducted by the public opinion research firm Blueprint found that 78% of swing voters who chose President Donald Trump over Harris in the 2024 presidential election believed that “Kamala Harris is focused more on cultural issues like transgender issues rather than helping the middle class.” 

Meanwhile, a poll of 2,128 American adults conducted in January 2025 by The New York Times found that 79% of respondents think that trans-identified male athletes should not be allowed to compete on women’s sports teams while 71% of those surveyed do not think that trans-identified youth should be able to obtain puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones, which are often prescribed to children with gender dysphoria.