At a Turning Point USA event in San Diego, former Rep. Matt Gaetz didn’t hold back on where he thinks the Democratic Party is headed — and he took a shot at what he called its increasingly “unmasculine” voter base.
In a wide-ranging conversation with TPUSA founder Charlie Kirk, Gaetz said Democrats are losing their grip on male voters and predicted that transgender women will soon be the “most masculine force” within the Democratic Party.
“Who’s left in the Democratic Party are like the beta males, the unsuccessful males, the angry pitbull-adopting lesbians, and then the transsexuals,” Gaetz said. “So I believe that the trans women will very soon be the most masculine force in the Democratic Party.”
His remarks, delivered to a cheering crowd, played into growing GOP confidence that the party is winning over demographics once considered locked in by Democrats. Gaetz pointed to post-election polling showing President Trump dramatically closing the gender gap with women by widening his margin with men — particularly black and Hispanic men.
“You wonder how all of this broke out in the election,” Gaetz said. “President Trump was able to overcome a gender gap with women by having a larger gender gap with men. The coalition on the Republican side was like the non-self-loathing males.”
He described that coalition as including “cool black guys,” “cool Latino guys,” and even “gay males, who are pretty much with us for the most part.” Gaetz then broke the room with a punchline about female voters: “The Democrats killed us with undesirable women.”
The comments came as Democrats are publicly grappling with an identity crisis. Polls show the party’s favorability has cratered to 29% according to CNN/SSRS, with one-third of voters unable to name a single leader who represents their values. Among young people — once the heart of the Democrat base — support has dropped nearly 20 points since 2017, according to a Harvard Youth Poll.
Gaetz mocked a pre-election Kamala Harris campaign ad featuring men saying they were “man enough” to support women’s rights, arguing that Democrats have alienated ordinary male voters by embracing a performative version of feminism.
“Who do I want to hang out with?” Gaetz asked rhetorically. “The cool alpha males and the cool black guys and the gay men, or the pitbull-adopting lesbians and the transsexuals?”
While Gaetz’s language was characteristically provocative, the underlying point reflects a real trend: men are drifting right. According to a Pew Research study released in April, 52% of men now identify with the GOP compared to just 46% for Democrats. That number has grown steadily since 2020.
In response to the loss, some Democrats are beginning to pivot. Maryland Gov. Wes Moore recently pledged to focus his administration on helping struggling boys and men — a break from the party’s typical approach to gender issues.
Still, fractures remain. The DNC is now facing internal rebellion from its younger wing, with gun control activist and Vice Chair David Hogg pledging to primary establishment Democrats in 2026. Meanwhile, speculation is swirling about potential 2028 contenders like Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Gavin Newsom.
Gaetz clearly sees opportunity in the chaos — and he’s not shy about calling out what he sees as the Democrats’ cultural drift.
“The Democrats are struggling,” he concluded. “And the more they let the fringe take the wheel, the more voters are going to keep jumping ship.”
