WASHINGTON — Legislation that aimed to bar transgender women and girls nationwide from participating in school athletic competitions designated for female athletes failed to advance Monday night in a divided U.S. Senate as Democrats stood united against an issue that Republicans leveraged in last year’s elections.

U.S. Sens. Angus King, I-Maine, and Susan Collins, R-Maine. Associated Press photos

A test vote on the bill failed to gain the 60 votes needed to advance in the chamber, as senators stuck to party lines in a 51-45 vote tally. Likewise, Maine’s senators split their votes: Sen. Susan Collins, a Republican, voted in favor of the bill, while Sen. Angus King, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, voted against it.

The bill sought to determine Title IX protections “based solely on a person’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth.” The vote came as Republicans have homed in repeatedly on the social cause, casting it as an issue of ensuring athletic fairness for women and girls. President Donald Trump signed an executive order last month giving federal agencies wide latitude to ensure entities that receive federal funding abide by Title IX in alignment with the administration’s view, which interprets “sex” as the gender someone was assigned at birth.

Still, Republicans in Congress have set their sights on enshrining that policy into law by amending the 1972 Title IX law, which protects people from discrimination based on sex in education programs or activities that receive federal financial assistance.

“Around the country we have seen men — biological men who identify as women — take up spaces and medals in athletics meant for actual women,” said Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., adding, “This is a matter of fairness and equality.”

The House had already passed similar legislation with only two Democrats in support, but the setback for the bill in the Senate showed the steep climb for any legislation that targets LGBTQ people.

Democrats slammed the bill as both a distraction from more pressing issues and a federal overreach into local school decisions.

“What Republicans are doing today is inventing a problem to stir up a culture war and divide people against each other,” Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, said in a floor speech.

In a written statement, King said he voted against the bill in part because he believes the matter should be left to the states, not the federal government.

“While these are complex issues, considerations of fairness and safety in sports are made every day by parents, educators, and school administrators at the local level. We should keep it that way and allow local communities to decide what’s best for their districts and their students, and let states abide by the will of their citizens.

“In other words, I see this as a state’s rights issue which should not require a one-size-fits-all federal solution,” King continued. “Simply put, it is highly likely this legislation would hurt Maine and Maine students.”

Still, Republicans nationwide appear determined to press the issue. During his presidential campaign, Trump found that the topic resonated beyond the usual party lines. More than half the voters surveyed by AP VoteCast said support for transgender rights in government and society has gone too far.

Following Trump’s executive order, the NCAA changed its participation policy for transgender athletes to limit competition in women’s sports to athletes who were assigned female at birth.

Democrats and LGBTQ+ rights activists denounced the proposed measure as bullying.

After the Senate bill’s failure, Kelley Robinson, the president of Human Rights Campaign, said in a statement: “Every child should have the opportunity to experience the simple joys of being young and making memories with their friends. But bills like these send the message that transgender kids don’t deserve the same opportunities to thrive as their peers simply because of who they are.”

Associated Press writer Steve Karnowski in St. Paul, Minnesota, contributed.

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