Nancy Mace’s effort to ban transgender Delaware Democrats from Capitol women’s restrooms is gaining support

Delaware sparked a firestorm this month after it elected the first transgender woman to Congress, prompting some Republicans to call for the new lawmaker to be barred from women’s bathrooms.

Representative-elect Sarah McBride, currently the Democratic senator for President Biden’s hometown of Claymont, Delaware, defeated retired Delaware State Trooper John Whalen III 58%-42%. McBride succeeds Rep. Lisa Blunt-Rochester, D-Del., who won incumbent Tom Carper’s open U.S. Senate seat.

Rep. Nancy Mace, RS.C., led the charge against allowing McBride to use the women’s restrooms on Capitol Hill. McBride is a biological male who identifies and presents as a woman. Mace said on Tuesday that she is now receiving death threats, adding that she is being “unfairly targeted”.

Mace draft resolution HR 1579 on Monday which would prohibit members, officers and employees of the House from using facilities other than those corresponding to their biological sex.

MACE BACKFALLS ON EFFORT TO CONNECT TRANSGENDER CONGRESSMAN FROM WOMEN’S BATHROOMS

As of Tuesday afternoon, it had been referred to the House Administration Committee, currently chaired by Rep. Bryan Steil, R-Wis., but it does not appear to have come to a vote yet.

The bill would task House Sergeant-at-Arms William McFarland with enforcing the new provision.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., told reporters she supports Mace’s decision and called McBride “mentally ill.”

“Sarah McBride, as he calls himself, formerly Tim McBride, is a biological male and he should not be using any of our restrooms in the Capitol and those in our office buildings,” Greene said.

“Nancy Mace’s decision doesn’t go far enough. Her decision is just a statement from Congress saying that Congress disagrees with something. We need something more binding.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R–La., a noted social conservative, said he’s “not going to get into this.”

“We welcome with open arms all new members who are duly elected representatives of the people. I think it is a command that we treat all people with dignity and respect as we will. And I will not go into stupid debates about this.”

Johnson added that the issue of gender identity in locker rooms and bathrooms is not something Congress has had to address before and therefore deserves honest consideration and “the consensus of the members.”

“And we will meet the needs of each individual,” the speaker added.

Greene said the situation reminds her of how student-athletes were forced to compete against biological males who are physiologically stronger as a baseline.

“There’s a volleyball player who has brain damage today because of a biological male putting a ball into her head.”

In that regard, former University of Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines, who was forced to compete against a transgender swimmer from the University of Pennsylvania, slammed McBride’s pointed response to the criticism.

“And even after his tantrum, he’s still a man,” she wrote on X, formerly Twitter. Gaines is an OutKick.com contributor and host of “Gaines for Girls”.” podcast.

In a 2015 story in American’s college magazine, McBride said, “My father told me that he didn’t lose a son, but he gained a daughter. It was one of the most profound moments of my transition. It was a great relief , when it was clear that both my parents saw me as who I am.”

In earlier comments about her decision, Mace said she is a rape survivor and still has PTSD from her abuse at the hands of a man.

Later Tuesday, Mace said the issue is protecting women and girls and ensuring Congress acts accordingly.

“(McBride) doesn’t get a say. This is about real women and women’s rights and the far left radical left. They want to erase women and women’s rights and I won’t let them,” she said.

“Here’s the deal: Biological men shouldn’t be in women’s private spaces, period, end of story,” she said.

Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., defended McBride on Tuesday, telling reporters he was “sick to the stomach” by Mace’s decision.

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In a statement, McBride called the situation “a blatant attempt by far-right extremists to distract from the fact that they have no real solutions to what Americans are facing.”

“Delawareans sent me here to make the American dream more affordable and accessible, and that’s what I’m focused on.”

Fox News Digital reached out to McBride’s campaign and Dover office for further comment on the new criticism and was provided with an initial statement.

Fox News’ Daniel Scully, Tyler Olson and Ryan Schmelz contributed to this report.