Republicans clearly believe that transgender-related liberal culture war nonsense is a winning issue for them, which means that PolitiFact views it as their job to defend Democrats from the true attacks on their record. On Tuesday, PolitiFact was it again, rating Nevada Republican Senate challenger Sam Brown “false” for correctly stating Sen. Jacky Rosen supports allowing men to compete in women’s sports.
Seth Richardson, who wrote two previous articles defending Sen. Sherrod Brown’s transgender record, quotes Brown as tweeting, "Jacky Rosen voted to allow biological men to compete in women’s sports, and she made it clear she still stands by her votes against women."
He also quotes his old nemesis, the Senate Leadership Fund, as “saying Rosen backed ‘trans biological men in girls’ sports.’”
Richardson then rehashed his previous arguments, “But the Senate Leadership Fund’s ad cited Rosen’s 2021 and 2024 votes against amendments to broader funding bills. The super PAC made the same argument — using the same evidence — in an ad targeting another Democratic incumbent: U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown in Ohio. We rated that False.”
He continued, “The claims against Rosen are similarly misleading: The amendments Rosen voted against would have stripped federal funding from schools and colleges that allowed transgender girls and women to compete in sports matching their gender identity. They did not address athletic eligibility; federal law rarely dictates who is eligible for specific sports.”
That was a bad argument then and it still is. The SLF’s argument was that given how schools depend on federal funding, it is appropriate to frame the proposal as a ban.
Richardson also claimed, “The bills did not dictate athletic eligibility. Governing bodies such as the National Collegiate Athletic Association controls that. Federal law addresses compensation, amateur status, antitrust or other civil issues.”
Yes, and “other civil issues” includes Title IX, which mandates that women be given equal sporting opportunities. Conservatives argue allowing men to invade women’s sports violates that rule.
Like his defense of Sherrod Brown, Richardson’s argument that Rosen’s vote was against a measure that Sen. Tommy Tuberville tried to attach to an unrelated spending bill is not credible because there is nothing to suggest Rosen would vote the other way if a standalone bill came up for a vote. As Richardson himself noted:
These claims regarding Rosen came after the University of Nevada, Reno, women’s volleyball team forfeited an Oct. 26 match against San Jose State University over reports that one San Jose State player is a transgender woman… Rosen has not commented publicly on the University of Nevada, Reno, controversy, but her campaign spokesperson, Johanna Warshaw, said in an email Rosen believes coaches and athletic leagues are ‘in the best position’ to ensure fair athletic competition.
The league Rosen is hiding behind is the Mountain West Conference, which has denounced the long list of teams declining to compete against SJSU.
Sam Brown and the SLF were correct and PolitiFact was wrong again. The next time PolitiFact founder Bill Adair shows up on TV and says Republicans are fact-checked more because they lie more, just remember that PolitiFact needs to be fact-checked as well.
