Democrat Senators flee or no-show Judiciary Committee hearing on protecting women's sports

For most of Wednesday's Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on protecting women's sports, not a single Democratic senator was in attendance.

The only two Democrats to show up at all were ranking member Sen.

Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Sen.

Amy Klobuchar , D-Minn.

Both of them left within the first hour of the hearing and Klobuchar never spoke.

The Democrats also did not host a single witness for the hearing.

Durbin's devoted much of his opening testimony to dismissing the issue of trans athletes in women's sports , bringing up issues like affordability, getting cell phones out of the hands of children, AI and trust in government.

DEMOCRATS STAY QUIET ON NEXT STEPS AFTER SUPREME COURT TRANSGENDER SPORTS RULING Prior to leaving, Durbin would "refuse to treat this hearing like a responsible exercise of this committee.

I will not ask questions, and I already did not call any witnesses." He left shortly thereafter.

OutKick reached out to all 10 Democratic members about their absence for either the majority of or the entire hearing.

Only Durbin's office responded, saying, "Sen.

Durbin explained his position during his opening statement this morning." VULNERABLE DEMOCRATS FLIP ON WOMEN'S SPORTS VOTE AFTER OPPOSING SIMILAR BILLS AS MIDTERMS LOOM The only times Durbin addressed the issue of the hearing was when he raised concerns for the LGBTQ community, citing a study by the Trevor Project that found young LGBTQ+ people are at a "higher risk of suicide," and potential sex verification checks for female athletes as a result of protective measures for women's sports, while calling measures a "vendetta." "We can all agree that we want to be fair and safe in women's athletics, but this vendetta against a small number of people in the trans community affects everyone, including cisgender girls, who can be subject to inappropriate gender verification checks," Durbin said.

When asked for clarification about the substance of those concerns, Durbin's office pointed to a press release from March 2025 that stated measures to protect women's sports would "subject women and girls to physical inspection by an adult if someone from an opposing team accused them of being transgender." Sen.

Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., told OutKick in person that he didn't go to the hearing because he had a classified briefing on the Iran war.