Politics
Our political journalists are based in the Maine State House and have deep source networks across the partisan spectrum in communities all over the state. Their coverage aims to cut through major debates and probe how officials make decisions. Read more Politics coverage here.
AUGUSTA, Maine — The Maine Senate defeated Monday an effort to ban transgender girls from sports aligned with their gender identity, putting the bill on track to die after four House Democrats joined Republicans in backing the measure last week.
The Senate voted 21-13 to defeat the proposal from Rep. Dick Campbell, R-Orrington, to ban schools and universities that receive state funding from allowing transgender female athletes to compete in female sports. Sen. Rick Bennett of Oxford was the lone Republican to vote with Democrats to oppose the measure.
The conflicting decisions from each chamber mean the measure and other related proposals are likely dead this year, but President Donald Trump is continuing to target Maine over the issue in a pending lawsuit that could have national ramifications by attempting to reinterpret the landmark Title IX law as not allowing transgender girls in female sports.
Maine has allowed a small number of transgender girls to compete in sports for years under statutes banning gender identity-based discrimination, but debates on the issue ramped up in February after Rep. Laurel Libby, R-Auburn, made a viral social media post about a transgender student who won a state track and field title.
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Trump then singled out Gov. Janet Mills during a White House event that same week and vowed to yank federal funding from the state unless it bans transgender girls from female sports to follow his executive order on the matter. Trump’s administration began canceling federal dollars and programs benefiting Maine and its schools.
The House had passed Campbell’s measure Friday by a three-vote margin after Democratic Reps. Dani O’Halloran of Brewer, Dave Rollins of Augusta, Wayne Farrin of Jefferson and Stephan Bunker of Farmington joined Republicans in supporting it.
That was not the last word because Democrats have a 20-15 advantage in the Senate. Bennett, a potential independent candidate for governor in 2026, gave a speech last week against his party’s bills, saying they saddened him and the issue should be decided by courts.
The House and Senate had also defeated Republican measures that not only dealt with sports but also affected the bathrooms transgender students may use, the names teachers may use for students, the “gender identity” protections in the Maine Human Rights Act and the state law allowing teens to consent to gender-affirming care.
