Party went too far left on transgender rights this election, Democratic congressman says

WASHINGTON (TNND) — While President-elect Donald Trump prepares to move back into the White House, Democrats are pointing fingers at each other as they sort out what went wrong.

“We’ve got to be able to have these debates but instead we have a wing of the Democratic Party who shames us and tries to cancel people who even try to bring up these difficult topics," said Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass.

Moulton argues the party swung so far left on transgender rights they lost step with the majority of voters.

I have two little girls,” Moulton told the New York Times. “I don’t want them getting run over on a playing field by a male or formerly male athlete, but as a Democrat, I’m supposed to be afraid to say that.”

Almost immediately calls came for Moulton to resign. One of his top aides also quit.

“The point is the backlash I’ve received proves my point that we can’t even have these discussions as a party. The chairman of the Massachusetts Democratic Party wouldn’t even return my phone call,” Moulton told MSNBC.

Associated Press exit polling shows a majority of voters say support for transgender rights in government and society has gone too far.

One of Trump’s most potent ads attacks Harris’s stance on the issue, showing her on video voicing support for taxpayer-funded sex change surgeries for people in prison. The ad ends with the tagline, “Kamala is for they/them. President Trump is for you.”

Analysis by a Harris super PAC, Future Forward, found after voters watched this ad support for Trump increased by 2.7 percentage points. The Trump Campaign spent millions to run the ad over and over in the final days of campaigning.

A newly elected representative, Sarah McBride, who is the first transgender woman to serve in Congress, responded to the issue on CNN.

We were seeing these ads and despite that, we won our race," said McBride. "I believe that the American people are still having a conversation about trans-identities and trans-people and we need to extend grace.”

Congressman Moulton isn’t the only Democrat who says his party misread voters this year. Many others argue they are also out of step on other issues like the crisis at the Southern border and the economy.