North Carolina Democrat Has a New Message on Women’s Sports. Republicans Aren’t Buying It.

• October 5, 2026

Portrait of Congressman Marc Veasey wearing a blue suit and yellow-and-blue striped tie.

Rep. Don Davis, D-N.C., participates in a news conference in the U.S. Capitol on March 6, 2024. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

In a new political campaign ad, a North Carolina Democrat is claiming to support protecting women’s sports. However, his record isn’t lining up with his new campaign promise, according to his opponent in the race.

“There should always be a safe and fair space for women and girls in sports,” Rep. Don Davis says in his new ad.

The Democrat, who is running for reelection to the U.S. House, has had multiple opportunities in the past to support the “safe and fair space” he refers to in the video. But according to his voting record, in 2023, his vote read “not voting” when the issue came up for a vote. In 2025, his vote read “present.”

Davis is running against Republican Laurie Buckhout, whose campaign manager told the Daily Signal his “record is very clear.”

“When common sense was on the House floor, Don Davis took a hike … twice,” Buckhout campaign manager Stephen Gallagher said in a statement.

“In 2023, he co-sponsored the infamously anti-female legislation, the Equality Act, which would’ve allow[ed] men to compete against women in sports and allow men to access women’s locker rooms and domestic violence shelters. His record is very clear on this issue,” he continued.

In his ad, Davis states, “There’s real concerns about fairness and safety. That’s why I believe states should decide what’s right for protecting women and girls, and North Carolina has decided.”

North Carolina has passed legislation to protect women’s sports from participation by biological men. However, that protection has not yet been codified at the federal level, and 23 states are still vulnerable.

The federal legislation, the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2025, passed the House but is awaiting a vote in the Senate. However, if the Senate does not pass the bill before the new Congress begins in January, the measure will expire.

“Buckhout is an unapologetically pro-common-sense candidate who does not support radical gender theory like Davis,” Gallagher continued, adding that Buckhout would support federal legislation to protect women’s and girls sports.

“Do-nothing Don Davis’s pathetic attempt to mislead voters is nothing but pure desperation from an ill-fated campaign,” National Republican Congressional Committee spokesman Reilly Richardson said in a statement to the Daily Signal.

“North Carolina families know Davis stands with the far-left wing of his party pushing to allow men to compete in women’s sports,” Richardson continued.

Davis did not return the Daily Signal’s request for comment by the time of publication.

Virginia Grace McKinnon | Journalism Fellow

Virginia Grace McKinnon is a journalism fellow for the Daily Signal.

Follow on X virginiagmck

Read the first chapter of The Woketopus right now for FREE

Today, even with President Trump’s victory, leftist elites have their tentacles in every aspect of our government.

The Daily Signal’s own Tyler O’Neil exposes this leftist cabal in his new book, The Woketopus: The Dark Money Cabal Manipulating the Federal Government.

In this book, O’Neil reveals how the Left’s NGO apparatus pursues its woke agenda, maneuvering like an octopus by circumventing Congress and entrenching its interests in the federal government.
You can read the first chapter of this new book for FREE in this eBook, The Woketopus: Chapter One using the secure link below.

GET MY FREE EBOOK