AOC laments state of her party after Democrats vote for trans athlete ban bill: 'We're not in good shape'

A tough stretch for Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., got worse Tuesday when she watched members of her party vote for a bill she attacked at the expense of widespread mockery.

Ocasio-Cortez's viral rant against the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act wasn't enough to convince Democratic allies Henry Cuellar and Vicente Gonzalez, both of Texas, to vote against the bill. Cuellar and Gonzalez joined 218 House Republicans who voted for the bill that seeks to prevent federally funded educational institutions from allowing transgender athletes to compete in girls and women's sports. 

For Ocasio-Cortez, the notion of Democratic congressmen voting for a Republican-backed bill before President-elect Trump even returns to office suggests her party is "not in good shape."

"We can't be ninnies about this," Ocasio-Cortez told The Independent Tuesday. "These are just the early days. Trump hasn't even been sworn in yet, and if a little bitty sports bill was gonna make Dems defect, we're not in good shape."

Ocasio-Cortez advised Democrats not to be "ninnies" the same day she delivered a widely-mocked tirade that contained multiple unsubstantiated claims and unfinished sentences. Her rant prompted multiple viral social media responses that labeled her "the dumbest person in congress." 

For Ocasio-Cortez, it marks a poor start to 2025 after a rough 2024. Despite winning re-election to her House seat in New York, Ocasio-Cortez watched members of her coalition, "the Squad," lose their seats, including Jamaal Bowman in New York and Cori Bush in Missouri. 

Ocasio-Cortez also lost in her bid to become the top Democrat on the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, getting passed over by Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va.

What's more, Ocasio-Cortez was frequently the subject of viral social media mockery, often for her unchanging stance on transgender inclusion in women's and girls sports.

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In November, Ocasio-Cortez reshared a video of Green Party vice presidential candidate Butch Ware speaking out against transgender inclusion in women's sports with a caption that said, "This ticket is predatory and people deserve better." The post prompted heated backlash on social media. 

"AOC says it’s predatory behavior to not want men competing in women’s sports. To AOC, acknowledging biological reality is ‘predatory.’ You know what’s actually predatory? Sexualizing children and normalizing pedophilia," conservative influencer and former NCAA swimmer Riley Gaines wrote on X while posting a Fox News Digital article about Ocasio-Cortez’s comments.

The mockery of Ocasio-Cortez picked up weeks after the election when X users discovered she no longer includes her pronouns "she/her" in her bio. 

Ocasio-Cortez is one of many prominent Democrats who remain firmly supportive of transgender inclusion in women's sports, even as the issue proved to be a vulnerability for Democrats in November's election. 

Many Democrats who spoke out against the bill Tuesday did not argue on the premise that transgender athletes should be allowed in women's and girls sports. Instead, they argued the measures preventing transgender inclusion will subject girls to genital examinations and sexual predators despite no language in the bill that would suggest genital examinations for girls in sports. 

Ocasio-Cortez included that unsubstantiated claim in her rant Tuesday but gave a shout-out to transgender athletes when she yelled "Trans girls are girls!" on the House of Representatives floor. 

In this April 10, 2019, photo, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., listens during a House Financial Services Committee hearing with leaders of major banks on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

Ocasio-Cortez has previously co-sponsored the Equality Act, which was proposed in 2019 and has had revisions that "would force public schools to allow biologically male athletes who identify as transgender on girls sports teams." In March 2023, Democrats, including Ocasio-Cortez, proposed a resolution "recognizing that it is the duty of the Federal Government to develop and implement a Transgender Bill of Rights." 

Unlike Ocasio-Cortez, other Democratic House representatives have publicly pulled back on their support for transgender inclusion, including Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass.; Rep. Colin Allred, D-Texas; and Rep. Tom Suozzi, D-N.Y. Still, each of those Democrats voted against the bill Tuesday. 

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez  (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

A national exit poll conducted by the Concerned Women for America legislative action committee found that 70% of moderate voters viewed "Donald Trump’s opposition to transgender boys and men playing girls' and women’s sports and of transgender boys and men using girls' and women’s bathrooms" as important to them. And 6% said it was the most important issue of all, while 44% said it was "very important."

In June, a survey conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago asked respondents to weigh in on whether transgender athletes of both sexes should be permitted to participate in sports leagues that correspond to their preferred gender identity instead of their biological sex. 

In that survey, 65% answered that it should either be never or rarely allowed. When those polled were asked specifically about adult transgender female athletes competing on women’s sports teams, 69% opposed it.

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Jackson Thompson is a sports writer for Fox News Digital. He previously worked for ESPN and Business Insider. Jackson has covered the Super Bowl and NBA Finals, and has interviewed iconic figures Usain Bolt, Rob Gronkowski, Jerry Rice, Troy Aikman, Mike Trout, David Ortiz and Roger Clemens.