Rep. Pramila Jayapal, a former chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus whose child is nonbinary, has reintroduced a federal Transgender Bill of Rights three times. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, a co-chair of the conservative Blue Dog Coalition who represents a swing district, has backed Republican bills restricting gender-affirming care for minors.

The two Washington Democrats come from opposite wings of their party. But this fall, with both up for re-election on the same ballot as a measure in their state targeting transgender athletes, they have landed in the same place — for much the same reason.

The proposal would require any student who wants to play on a girls’ sports team to have a healthcare provider verify her sex — transgender or not. Gluesenkamp Perez recently told Oregon Public Broadcasting that while she believes “it isn’t fair for boys to compete in girls’ sports,” she cannot support “a rule that forces girls to prove their sex to the state every year just to play sports.” Jayapal — along with Gov. Bob Ferguson and Sen. Patty Murray — has called the measure “invasive.”

While Democrats speaking out against attacks on trans kids is not novel, the way they’re doing so is noteworthy: Confronting the issue head-on, and turning conservatives’ own arguments about government overreach and parents’ rights against them.

“Pointing out the values of conservatives — to not have government in our business making these decisions — is a very important part of our message,” Jayapal told MS NOW in an interview on Tuesday. “I do think we’re going to get people who may not agree with us in every way we see the issue.”

It’s a notable shift for a party that has long struggled to answer GOP attacks casting Democrats as more concerned with transgender people than with voters’ paychecks — attacks Republicans leaned on heavily in 2024 and are again spending millions on this fall. With measures targeting transgender athletes also on the ballot for the first time in Arizona, Colorado and Nebraska, and another targeting trans youth and abortion rights in Missouri, strategists say the approach is worth emulating.

“What this is about fundamentally is ‘Who do you want to make decisions around healthcare for your family? Do you want politicians or the government to make those decisions, or do you think families and doctors should be the ones who are making those calls?’” said Adrienne Kimmell, a strategist who advises on messaging about transgender issues.

Even the Washington ballot measure’s top backers admit the opposition’s strategy seems to be working.

“We’ve got people that are with us and are saying, ‘Are we sure that we want genital exams?’” said Hallie Herzberg, spokesperson for Let’s Go Washington, the political action committee supporting the measure and a second initiative on parental rights in schools. The group was founded by Brian Heywood, a conservative hedge fund manager and major Republican donor.

Herzberg maintains that the sports measure would not mandate such exams. But she acknowledged that Democrats are casting a wider net by focusing on them rather than on transgender athletes — a group that opponents of the measure say numbers fewer than a dozen statewide. (Herzberg says this is likely an undercount.)

Jayapal has addressed the measure’s targeting of transgender kids directly in a video posted on social media. But No Hate in Washington State, the leading group opposing the measure, has gone further in recasting the fight: None of its digital ads even use the word “transgender.” Instead, they focus on how the sex-verification requirement could subject cisgender girls to invasive scrutiny.

“Although the opposition is really focused on trans kids, we’re focused on the impacts on all kids,” said Heather Weiner, the group’s spokesperson.

Democrats in other states are following suit.

In Arizona, where a ballot measure could require schools and athletic associations to bar trans people from sports teams and locker rooms, Democratic House candidate JoAnna Mendoza said that parents, coaches and sports associations should decide eligibility in kids’ sports. In Colorado, Democratic gubernatorial nominee Phil Weiser has said he would oppose two ballot measures — one that would limit trans students’ participation in sports and another that would prohibit gender-affirming surgeries on minors — because he believes athletic associations should determine fairness and that such surgeries for minors are “very rare” and decisions about them are best made by doctors and parents.

This approach — framing the issue as a matter of parental rights and government overreach — is not entirely new. Both Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear in 2023 and Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly in 2024 made similar arguments.

But it is a far cry from how national Democrats handled the issue in 2024.

After the Trump campaign’s widely aired ad declaring “Kamala is for they/them; Trump is for you,” Kamala Harris dodged on whether she believed gender-affirming care should be broadly available to Americans, saying only that she would follow the law. Following Trump’s re-election, Gov. Gavin Newsom of California and Rep. Seth Moulton of Massachusetts were among the Democrats who criticized their party for failing to address trans athletes’ participation in girls’ sports head-on.

Tyler Hack, executive director of the Christopher Street Project, a transgender rights advocacy group and political action committee, said “the sweet spot both morally and electorally” is for Democrats to respond to Republicans’ anti-trans attacks directly — and to highlight their ripple effects.

“When we talk about legislation or ballot measures targeting the trans community,” Hack said, “we need to zoom out and think about the implications in everyday life.”

Research that Kimmell oversaw earlier this year found that Democrats lose ground when they do not respond to Republican attacks on the issue, but gain the upper hand when they argue that Republicans are fixated on transgender people instead of the cost of living, according to a memo reviewed by MS NOW. The research, which focused on swing voters in House battleground districts, also recommended that Democrats remind voters that “Republicans are the party exposing children to inappropriate things and putting children at risk.”

The opposition campaign in Washington has tried to do just that, with ads showing anxious girls lining up for sex-verification exams and featuring doctors who oppose the measure.

The conservative American Principles Project, meanwhile, said in its own memo to GOP candidates last month that while its message testing in swing states showed Republicans with an advantage over Democrats in ads focused on gender-affirming care, those on the right also “need a compelling message on the economy.” (Spokespeople for the group did not respond to questions.)

But some Democrats would still prefer not to talk about trans issues at all.

In Colorado, Democrats running in three key House races, according to the Cook Political Report — Jessica Killin, Manny Rutinel and Eileen Laubacher, who is taking on GOP incumbent Lauren Boebert — have not taken public positions on the measures there. Nor has Democratic Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs, who is seeking a second term. (Spokespeople for those campaigns did not respond to requests for comment from MS NOW.)

Jayapal, for her part, hopes the Washington state delegation serves as a model for others in her party.

“It helps us when we refuse to be divided,” she told MS NOW, “and I think that’s a lesson for Democrats across the country.”

The post Democrats might have found an answer to GOP attacks on transgender athletes appeared first on MS NOW.

A former Florida congressional candidate is facing two felony counts for allegedly making death threats on social media against two women if they did not support Democratic Senate nominee Angie Nixon.

Two days after Elijah Manley came in third place in the hotly contested August Democratic primary in Florida’s 20th Congressional District, he allegedly told two women on Facebook he would “make your life a living hell” and “cut your fucking head off” if they did not vote for Nixon, according to an arrest affidavit reviewed by MS NOW.

The person who filed the police report did so a day after the alleged posts, on Aug. 21. In one of the posts, Manley, 27, allegedly wrote: “I’m talking to y’all. I saw y’all comments earlier. I’m already pissed off, do not piss me off more. I swear to god, take me to war over this black woman and I promise y’all I will burn y’all mf castle to the ground and everyone else in my way.”

Nixon, who is Black, is facing off against incumbent Republican Sen. Ashley Moody, who is white, in the critical Senate race.

In another post, Manley allegedly wrote: “This the kind of shii that will make me snap. Any of you that don’t support [redacted] I promise I will make your life a living hell to the very end. You better lineup behind the Democratic nominee like we always do.”

He also allegedly wrote: “Every democrat needs to get behind the democratic nominee for Senate. Anybody not doing that, I promise you I’m going to cut your fucking head off.”

It is unclear what comments or messages Manley was responding to. Both Facebook representatives and Manley confirmed to authorities that he wrote the comments, according to the affidavit.

Manley earned the support of progressives, including Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., in his campaign for the Democratic nomination in the South Florida district, which was represented by a Black lawmaker for more than 30 years. Manley, who is Black, and much of the local Black Democratic establishment criticized Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who is white, for opting to run in the district after her neighboring district was redrawn to lean more Republican. But Wasserman Schultz ultimately triumphed in the primary, earning about 46% of the vote, ahead of second-place finisher Dale Holness, who received about 23%, and Manley, who received 14% of the vote.

Two days later, Manley allegedly made the Facebook threats.

Manley told police he and one of the recipients “were having a political disagreement over a party candidate and the comments made did not have any actual intention of harm, but a challenge to their political views,” adding that he did not intend to perpetrate any harm. He also told authorities he had previously had “casual and polite” encounters with the women “despite having differing political opinions.”

The women who received the messages told authorities they were “concerned for their safety” and interpreted the term “castle” to refer to their homes, according to the affidavit. They also reported the posts to Meta, the company that operates Facebook, but according to the affidavit, the company’s response was that the posts “failed to meet their safety guidelines” for removal.

After other commenters told Manley to tone down his rhetoric, he allegedly replied: “I’m not toning anything down. I’m tired of being told tone my voice while white people get away with destroying everything. I want all white people to vote for the Democratic nominee.”

Manley turned himself in to police in Fort Lauderdale last Friday, three days after a warrant was issued for his arrest, according to court records reviewed by MS NOW. He was released on $40,000 bond and ordered not to possess weapons, contact the victims or use social media.

Manley directed a request for comment to his attorney, Khurrum Wahid, who said in a statement that his client denies the allegations and characterized the comments in question as part of a “political discussion.”

“We are confident that a trier of fact will see there is no intent to carry out any act of violence,” Wahid said. “It is unfortunate that our political differences have led some to weaponizing the police instead of using dialogue.”

Spokespeople for Nixon’s and Wasserman Schultz’s campaigns did not respond to requests for comment from MS NOW.

A spokesperson for the Broward State Attorney’s Office said the office will not prosecute Manley’s case because of a conflict of interest: The people who reported the alleged threats have participated in charity drives organized by the office over the years. Officials requested Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ office assign the case to another office, the spokesperson said. The governor’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

If convicted, Manley could face up to 15 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000 on each count.

The post Former Florida congressional candidate faces felony charges over online threats appeared first on MS NOW.

The police officer who fatally shot a 1-year-old boy in Mississippi as his mother was holding him resigned this week, the mayor of the city where it happened confirmed on Friday.

The officer — identified in public records as Hunter Foster by local media outlet Action News 5 — offered his resignation to the Senatobia Board of Aldermen on Wednesday, Mayor Greg Graves said. Foster’s departure came two days after the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office announced that investigators had determined his use of force in the June shooting of the infant, Kohen Wiley, was “justified,” and a day before the city’s public safety department released officers’ body camera footage of the shooting.

The members of the Senatobia Board of Aldermen did not immediately respond to requests for comment from MS NOW on Friday.

The body camera footage, obtained by MS NOW, sheds more light on what happened on the afternoon of June 14, when officers were summoned to the Walmart to review security footage of a man who was allegedly sexually harassing customers, according to an investigation report that also released Thursday. While officers were reviewing the footage, a store employee interrupted them to report that two people — later identified as Kohen’s mother, Vellesiya Wiley, and a friend — were fleeing, according to the report and the footage.

The video from Foster’s body camera shows him running outside with other officers and approaching the car as the driver — Wiley’s friend — backs up and collides with another vehicle. The driver then moves forward, and Foster runs toward the front of the car and puts out his hand, which hits the hood. He appears to fire his gun multiple times, causing some of the glass in the passenger-side window to shatter. The driver then collided with another car, briefly slowed, and then sped off.

A statement released by the state Department of Public Safety the day of the shooting said the women had been accused of shoplifting, and the officer shot his gun after police tried to stop the car “but the driver drove in the direction of the officers, almost striking one.”

But the family’s legal team has disputed the conclusion that the driver was endangering the officers. An independent autopsy conducted by forensic psychologist Roger Mitchell and released by the family’s legal team to MS NOW in July found that the baby was shot through the side of his body, which the lawyers argued was an indicator that the car was not driving toward the officers. Wiley, Kohen’s mother, has said she held the baby up to show officers he was in the car before they shot him.

Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who is representing Kohen’s family, said in a statement that Foster’s resignation is “hardly a step toward accountability, and it is certainly not justice.” He said the legal team will continue seeking Foster’s decertification — which would prevent him from working as a law enforcement officer in the state — as well as a federal investigation.

“Turning in a badge does not erase responsibility for taking a life, and it will not end our fight for justice for Kohen and his family,” Crump added.

At a news conference on Thursday, Crump said the officers were “excessive from the very start,” noting that several of them had surrounded the car with their guns drawn before the shooting took place, despite the fact that Wiley’s friend had only been accused of stealing diapers.

“Shoplifting diapers is a misdemeanor,” he said. “It does not warrant the death penalty.”

Crump has alleged racism was at play in the incident: Foster is white, the redacted case files release Thursday confirm, and Kohen and his mother are Black. Mississippi Today and The New York Times previously reported that Foster allegedly made racist remarks toward two co-workers, one of whom is Black and the other of whom is white and has a child with a Black partner.

It is unclear why Foster resigned. His lawyer, Martin Zummach, declined to comment to MS NOW on Foster’s resignation. In a statement provided to NBC News, Zummach said Foster “resigned for the good of the city and the police department and to permit the process of healing.”

“He is still shocked and sickened that a baby died and emphatically denies knowing a child was in the car or in the front seat and had no idea that those fleeing were suspected of shoplifting,” Zummach said, according to NBC News.

The post Police officer resigns months after he fatally shot 1-year-old in Mississippi appeared first on MS NOW.