No, Jon Tester did not vote to allow men to compete with girls in sports.

In various competitive races this election cycle, Republican groups have appealed to voters who dislike transgender participation in sports, hoping to reduce support for Democratic candidates.

One such race is the Montana Senate race, where Democratic Sen. Jon Tester faces Republican Tim Sheehy.

In September, the Senate Leadership Fund, a political action committee supporting Senate Republicans, ran an ad that said: “Jon Tester ignored parents who don’t want biological males competing in women’s sports. Tester voted to allow men to compete with our girls in girls’ sports.” their sport is not Montana values.”

This claim is essentially identical to those we tested in the U.S. Senate elections in Ohio and Nevada. In both cases, we rated the statement as false.

The amendments Tester voted for would have stripped federal funding from schools and colleges that allowed transgender girls and women to compete in sports that matched their gender identity. They did not dictate sports law. Federal law rarely determines who is eligible to play specific sports.

“As a former public school teacher and school board member, Jon Tester believes these decisions should be made at the local level,” Tester’s campaign said in a statement to PolitiFact. “He never voted to allow men to compete with women.”

The attack ad cited votes Tester cast on March 6, 2021, and March 22, 2024, against amendments to two sweeping spending bills. Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., sought to attach both amendments, one to the 2021 American Rescue Plan and the other to a 2024 bill to fund several federal departments.

The amendments would prohibit federal funds from being spent on “a state, local educational agency, or institution of higher education” if they admit “any student whose biological sex (recognized solely on the basis of a person’s reproductive biology at birth) is male.” in a sports program or activity intended for girls or women.”

The Senate Leadership Fund did not respond to PolitiFact for this article.

But when we looked at the claim made in the Ohio group’s ad, Senate Leadership Fund communications director Thorunn Sinclair defended the ad’s language, saying the amendments tie school funding to whether transgender women are allowed to participate in sports that match their gender identity.

“You fund something, which means you vote to make something happen,” Sinclair said.

But the federal government does not regulate eligibility to participate in sports. Thus, voting up or down on these amendments would also have no effect on a team’s eligibility to participate.

High school sports in the United States are decentralized; each state usually sets its own rules regarding who can participate. According to the Movement Advancement Project, a think tank focused on LGBTQ+ rights and voting access, 26 states have laws or regulations that prohibit transgender athletes from competing in sports that align with their gender identity.

Montana is one of the states where this practice is prohibited.

Federal law addresses compensation, amateur status, antitrust or other civil issues, but does not address who is or is not allowed to participate.

Governing bodies such as the National Collegiate Athletic Association determine who is allowed to compete in specific events.

Some federal laws, such as Title IX, prohibit sex discrimination for programs receiving federal funding, which includes almost all public schools, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office. In April, President Joe Biden unveiled new rules that address gender identity under Title IX, although the rules do not specifically address transgender athletes in sports.

This type of vote coercion is a common legislative tactic for both parties.

As we noted in another cross-tester voting fact check, both Democratic and Republican senators have introduced amendments aimed at forcing members of the other party to support or oppose policies that could be controversial among voters. Senators in the majority, like Tester on both votes, need to work through these amendments to get the larger bill passed. Sometimes this means voting for something that could be used by a future opponent. Otherwise, a bill already passed by the House would have to be sent back to the House to resolve differences, which is impractical given funding deadlines.

Our solution

The Senate Leadership Fund said Tester “voted to allow men to compete against our girls in their sports.”

Tester voted against two amendments to broader spending bills that would have stripped funding from schools that allow transgender athletes to compete in sports that match their gender identity.

However, these amendments did not define sports law. Additionally, Montana is one of 26 states that prohibit transgender athletes from competing in sports that match their gender identity.

We rate this statement as false.