The Maine Democratic Party issued a rare off-cycle fundraising text message on Monday, asking recipients to donate money in support of Gov. Janet Mills’ fight to prevent male athletes from competing against female athletes, a policy decision that risks Maine losing hundreds of millions in federal funding.
Mills drew national attention last week when she threatened to sue President Donald Trump over his executive order requiring the protection of female-only spaces and sporting events.
The order — “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” — was issued on Feb. 5 and casts policies that allow males to compete in women’s sports as violations of Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972.
“It is the policy of the United States to rescind all funds from educational programs that deprive women and girls of fair athletic opportunities, which results in the endangerment, humiliation, and silencing of women and girls and deprives them of privacy,” said Trump.
On Thursday evening, Trump signaled that he was serious about withholding funding from states that failed to enforce his executive order.
During an in-person meeting the following day, Trump again raised the subject, and Mills took the bait.
“Your population doesn’t want men playing in women’s sports,” Trump said.
“You better do it,” he said. “You better comply otherwise you’re not getting any federal funding.”
After claiming that her administration would follow federal and state law, Mills threatened have the matter settled in litigation.
“We’ll see you in court,” Mills said.
That could be an expensive threat.
In FY24-25, the state of Maine’s $13.8 billion two-year budget included $5 billion in federal funding.
Maine’s financial dependency on the federal government means the the Trump White House has plenty of financial levers it can pull should the governor remain unwilling to comply with his executive order.
The text message from the Maine Democrats is among the first signs that Gov. Mills’ Democratic allies back in Maine are going to join her in making transgender athletic policies the proverbial hill to die on.
The decision to draw a line in the sand over allowing men into women’s sports has surprised many Republican insiders in Maine, especially considering the policy’s unpopularity.
According to a Jan. 2025 New York Times / Ipsos poll, 79 percent of Americans support restrictions that don’t allow males who identify as female to complete in girls’ or women’s sports.
Those results are in line with polling the Maine Wire conducted in 2023, which examined voter attitudes toward progressive policies in Maine’s public schools.
In that polling, 77 percent of Mainers said that Maine’s schools should get “back to basics” and focus less on race and gender.
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