Arizona Republican Kari Lake, who is reportedly considering a U.S. Senate bid, blasted Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) for voting against the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act in April.
The legislation, introduced by Rep. Greg Steube (R-FL), passed along partisan lines on April 20 with the support of 219 Republicans. Gallego and 202 other democrats voted against the bill, as Breitbart News reported:
The bill would clarify that in the Education Amendments of 1972, the term “sex” as mentioned under the Title IX section “shall be recognized based solely on a person’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth.”
The bill would work to withhold funding from schools receiving federal financial assistance should they violate Title IX by allowing transgender athletes to compete in sports programs designed for the opposite sex.
Lake, who is still challenging her gubernatorial loss to Gov. Katie Hobbs (D-AZ) last year, blasted Gallego, the lone Democrat to declare a candidacy for Sen. Krysten Sinema’s (I-AZ) seat, in a press release on Sunday:
Why doesn’t @RubenGallego support Arizona’s female athletes?
My full statement on Ruben Gallego’s “No” Vote on the Protection of Women and Girls Sports Act ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/GN7MGsJJSj
— Kari Lake (@KariLake) May 1, 2023
“Young women spend years training to excel in their sport, only to have their dreams crushed by gender-confused men with a God-given biological advantage,” Lake said, adding that “[w]oke liberals like Ruben Gallego rip trophies from the hands of girls, hand them to boys, and call it ‘progress.’”
“The Republican Party is the Party of common sense, and we refuse to let the radical left erase women in our society,” she concluded.
University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas reacts after her team wins the 400-yard freestyle relay during the 2022 Ivy League Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships at Blodgett Pool on February 19, 2022, in Cambridge, Massachusetts (Photo by Kathryn Riley/Getty Images).
Lake’s criticism of Gallego comes after her aides told the Wall Street Journal’s Eliza Collins in March that the firebrand conservative was considering launching a Senate bid in what looks to be a highly contentious race.
Sinema, who defected from the Democrat party last year and created an opening for Gallego’s candidacy, is preparing for a reelection bid, Collins reported in April. If she does follow through with a campaign, it sets the stage for a competitive three-way contest in the purple state against whoever ends up securing the two major party’s nominations.
If the former Fox 10 Phoenix anchor enters the race, she will square off in the primary against Republican Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb, who announced his candidacy for Sinema’s seat in early April. Republican Blake Masters, who was Arizona’s GOP Senate nominee in 2022, is also reportedly weighing a run, as is Karrin Taylor Robson, who lost the Republican gubernatorial primary to Lake last summer, as NBC News noted.