1. United States
2. Mich.
3. Letter

Massachusetts just sent a message every Democrat needs to hear: abandon transgender people and voters will abandon you. Ed Markey beat Seth Moulton 65 to 35 in a race that once looked competitive, and transgender rights were a defining issue. A UMass Amherst/WCVB poll found that 67% of likely Democratic primary voters — including independents — said they'd be less likely to support a candidate who opposed transgender rights. That's not a fringe position. That's the base. Moulton spent months calling trans girls "male athletes" and writing op-eds doubling down on his fearmongering. Markey wrapped himself in a trans pride flag and called trans rights human rights. One of them is a senator. The other holds no office at all. When you throw one minority group under the bus to chase a political calculation, every other minority group notices. We remember who stayed and who ran. I'm watching how you handle this, and so is everyone else in this community.