Republicans Wasted No Time in Targeting Sarah McBride

Photo-Illustration: by The Cut; Photos: Getty Images

South Carolina representative Nancy Mace gave a clear indication of her priorities after the Republican Party clinched a trifecta in Washington this election. But it’s not lowering the cost of living for Americans, focusing on curbing maternal mortality, or helping children access better education that she’s focused on. Instead, Mace is explicitly targeting Representative-elect Sarah McBride, from Delaware, who just made history as the first transgender person ever elected to Congress, who will be sworn in in January and did not want to come to Washington to fight about bathrooms. But Republicans are dead set on forcing her to have that fight, launching a multiday attack on McBride that includes a measure to restrict her ability to use women’s restrooms in the U.S. Capitol.

“Sarah McBride doesn’t get a say,” Mace told reporters about the resolution. She then misgendered McBride, adding that the incoming lawmaker “does not belong in women’s spaces, women’s bathrooms, locker rooms, changing rooms, period, full stop.”

On Wednesday, Mike Johnson — who opposes the release of a sexual-misconduct investigation into former representative Matt Gaetz, Donald Trump’s pick for attorney general — issued a statement saying, “All single-sex facilities in the Capitol and House Office buildings — such as restrooms, changing rooms, and locker rooms — are reserved for individuals of that biological sex.” It’s not clear if the policy will go into effect immediately. It’s also worth noting that both Mace and McBride, like all members of Congress, have access to private bathrooms in their offices; the people who’d be most affected by this Republican policy are transgender staffers and visitors to the Capitol. 

“This is a blatant attempt from far right-wing extremists to distract from the fact that they have no real solutions to what Americans are facing,” McBride added. “We should be focused on bringing down the cost of housing, health care, and child care, not manufacturing culture wars. Delawareans sent me here to make the American dream more affordable and accessible and that’s what I’m focused on.”

The resolution is part of a rightward shift for Mace, who just three years ago said: “I strongly support LGBTQ rights and equality. No one should be discriminated against.” In that same interview, the South Carolina lawmaker continued, “It isn’t a black-and-white issue. I do believe that religious liberty, the First Amendment, gay rights, and transgender equality can all co-exist.”

So what changed for Mace, a former moderate Republican? The South Carolina state GOP redrew her district in 2021 to make it more distinctly Republican after she narrowly won her race in the 2020 election. Lawmakers removed 30,000 Black voters from the district in what a lower court called “effective bleaching.” The Supreme Court’s conservative supermajority, however, allowed the gerrymandering to stand — after which Mace, a Trump ally, moved further right.

Currently, 14 states ban people from using the bathroom that corresponds with their gender identity. Attacks on the transgender community have become a hallmark of the GOP: Just on the first day of the 2025 legislative session’s pre-filing period in Texas, state Republicans pre-filed 32 bills targeting transgender people on a wide range of fronts, including gender-affirming-care bans, bathroom bills, and sports-related prohibitions.

In a follow-up video posted on X on Tuesday, Mace called herself a “feminist” and said she’d fight “like hell” to protect women and girls “across this country.” If that’s the case, she should focus her efforts on her own party, where not only Donald Trump but several of his potential Cabinet members have been credibly accused of sexual violence.