Arizona Voters Approve Proposition 318 Limiting Girls' and Women's Sports to Biological Females With 59 Percent, While Reelecting Democrat Katie Hobbs With 55 Percent, Daily Caller Reports
The Caller says the measure extends the sports rule from public schools to private schools and college, and covers locker rooms and bathrooms. Nebraska passed a similar measure, and Colorado and Washington were leading Wednesday morning.
Arizona voters backed a ban on transgender athletes in women's sports on the same ballot that returned the Democratic governor to office, the Daily Caller reports.
The measure. Proposition 318 requires athletic teams at every level to be separated by biological sex and bars students from using locker rooms or bathrooms meant for the opposite sex, the Caller says. It earned 59 percent of the vote. Arizona public schools already face a legal sex-based rule for sports, so the proposition extends it to private schools and colleges.
The split result. The same voters reelected Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs, who beat Republican Rep. Andy Biggs with 55 percent as of Wednesday. Democrats Kris Mayes (attorney general) and Adrian Fontes (secretary of state) were also reelected with 55 percent each. The Caller says President Trump had endorsed Biggs.
Hobbs' record. The Caller says Hobbs supported transgender policies in her first term, signing a 2023 executive order making state health plans cover sex-change surgeries and vetoing bills on drag queen story hours and on bathroom use by biological sex.
Other states. Nebraska passed an initiative to remove biological males from women's sports. As of Wednesday morning, similar measures were leading in Colorado and Washington State, the Caller says. We covered the Washington and Colorado measures earlier.
The counterpoint. The Caller reports that Republicans spent $183 million on TV ads touching on transgender issues in the 2026 cycle, while fewer than 10 percent of voters called those issues "one of the most important issues" in the midterms, according to an AP-NORC poll it cites.
Why it matters here. Sports rules passed by wide margins in places where Democrats also won, which cuts against the idea that the issue only helps one party. The AP-NORC figure shows why the party's own strategists may weigh it against prices.
What we could not check. Vote shares are as of Wednesday, per the Caller, and could move as counting finishes. We did not see the AP-NORC poll, and the Caller's source for the $183 million figure is an ABC News report we did not read.