Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., told Forbes on Wednesday incoming Rep. Sarah McBride, the first-ever openly transgender person to be elected to Congress, is a “threat” to her and to women—as Mace pushes to prevent McBride from using women’s bathrooms on Capitol Hill during the next legislative session, a gambit backed by the House speaker.
Rep.-elect Sarah McBride on Nov. 15, 2024.
In an interview with “Forbes Newsroom” on Wednesday, Mace said, “we have someone coming in, a member-elect, who is threatening to use women’s private spaces,” a reference to McBride, a transgender woman.
When asked if she was calling McBride a threat to her, Mace said “absolutely,” adding, “any man who wants to force his junk into the bathroom stall next to me or in a dressing room watching me, that is an assault on women.”
McBride has never been accused of sexual misconduct or any kind of threatening behavior.
Mace went on to say "any man who wants to force his genital into women's spaces" is waging a "war on women."
Mace’s comments came after she launched a targeted attack on McBride by proposing new rules that bar anyone from using the single-sex restrooms in the U.S. Capitol that don’t align with their biological sex at birth, a move House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., supported Wednesday.
Johnson said all single-sex restrooms in the Capitol and House Office Buildings can only be used by "individuals of that biological sex,” adding anyone not wishing to use their corresponding bathroom can use the buildings’ unisex restrooms or, in the case of House members like McBride, their private restrooms.
“Women deserve women’s only spaces,” Johnson said Wednesday.
McBride on Wednesday posted a statement to X, formerly known as Twitter, in which she said, “I'm not here to fight about bathrooms... Like all members, I will follow the rules as outlined by Speaker Johnson, even if I disagree with them,” and added the “effort to distract from the real issues facing this country hasn’t distracted me.”
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Mace—who has been on a social media blitz pushing for the ban—on Wednesday said she will be filing another bill to "ban biological men from women's space on all federal property all across the country."
New York Magazine on Tuesday published an article pointing out that while Mace says she feels threatened by McBride, and that McBride’s presence in women's spaces triggers her post-sexual-assault PTSD, Mace also has also supported President-elect Donald Trump and his cabinet picks of Rep. Matt Gaetz, Pete Hegseth and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., all of whom have been accused of sexual assault or misconduct. When asked about it by Forbes, Mace said she does support them and that those people have "not been charged with a crime, let alone indicted and found guilty in a court of law" and that her bathroom argument is "just about common sense." McBride has not been accused of any sexual misconduct.
The issue of transgender people and their use of public bathrooms has been pervasive in the United States for a decade and highlights a wider ongoing culture war. North Carolina's infamous HB2 was one of the first "bathroom bills" signed into law that forbade people in the state from using single-sex bathrooms that did not correspond with their biological sex at birth. The bill prompted nationwide protests and boycotts, and drew criticism from then-President Barack Obama, who called for its repeal. The law was ultimately repealed in 2020, but almost 30 bills relating to bathroom access have been proposed so far this year, according to Trans Legislation Tracker. Proponents of such bills argue that they’re needed to protect privacy and ensure safety of women and girls. Opponents say they are discriminatory against trans people, who are no more likely to commit crimes in public restrooms than any other group.
McBride, 34, was elected to represent Delaware's at-large congressional district, beating Republican John Whalen III with 57.9% of votes. She was already the highest-ranking transgender elected official in the U.S. as a member of the Delaware State Senate and is now the first openly transgender person elected to Congress.