Minnesota Governor Tim Walz had a splendid response after South Carolina Republican Representative Nancy Mace attempted to claim that his support for transgender women would bar him from recognizing fraud in his state.
Walz's appearance at the hearing comes amid conservative claims—offered with little supporting evidence—that Somali-run childcare centers in Minnesota improperly received public funds intended to support childcare for low-income families. Subsequently, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the FBI expanded their presence in Minnesota as federal authorities froze childcare funding statewide.
Walz previously announced he would not seek reelection, citing the growing controversy. Walz rejected allegations that his administration had ignored fraud and condemned what he called the politicization of the issue, saying President Donald Trump and his allies were trying to make Minnesota “a colder, meaner place.”
State officials said investigators visited every childcare center accused of fraud in a viral video last week and found that all were operating normally. Initial findings have raised doubts about the claims outlined in the video, though officials emphasized that investigations into potential wrongdoing are still ongoing.
Mace has said transgender people are “mentally ill” and “should be in a straitjacket.” She has repeatedly attacked transgender people since 2024, garnering significant attention after proposing a resolution to bar Delaware Democratic Representative Sarah McBride from using women’s facilities at the Capitol complex.
During the hearing, she told Walz she hopes he's "learned some lessons since your last hearing with me on the Oversight Committee," to which Walz replied:
"I did, I learned that if I didn't speak up, two of my people would be dead."
Mace then, out of nowhere, asked:
"Governor Walz, what is a woman? Have you learned that lesson? Do you know what a woman is?”
He replied with this snappy comeback:
"I'm the governor of Minnesota, Congresswoman. I'm not here to be a prop for your obsession."
Mace concluded that if Walz “can’t define what a woman is,” then he “certainly can’t define what fraud is.”
You can watch their exchange in the video below.
Many applauded his response—and criticized Mace for her remarks.
Republicans have been preoccupied with the definition of "woman" since a widely talked about moment during confirmation hearings for Ketanji Brown Jackson, who, though later confirmed and appointed to replace the outgoing Associate Justice Stephen Breyer on the Supreme Court, temporarily found herself at the center of the GOP's manufactured controversy.
When asked for a definition for the word "woman," Jackson told Tennessee Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn that she could not because "in this context, I’m not a biologist.”
The preoccupation with the word "woman" and gender overall is a further example of how transgender issues have recently galvanized the far right, taking a spot at the forefront of attacks conservatives have directed toward the LGBTQ+ community in what has become one of the more defining elements of the culture wars.
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