Dem governor fundraises off dust-up with Trump over trans sports in Maine: 'I told him we'd see him in court'

Maine's Dem Gov. Janet Mills sent mass fundraising texts this week, citing her public dust-up about transgender sports participation with Trump and soliciting donations to fight him in court.

Maine Gov. Janet Mills and President Donald Trump at the White House on Friday. (Getty Images)

Mills went on to say that while Trump campaigned on lowering prices for everyday Americans, he is now using his new power to "punish his enemies."

"I want to make one thing clear: Maine will not be intimidated by the president's threats," the campaign said. "The work to push back against Trump and his agenda begins at the state level. Can you donate $10 to the Maine Democratic Party to make sure they have the resources to fight for our state?" 

The same week Trump threatened to withhold funding from Maine for not complying with his executive order on women's sports, a transgender woman who competed as a man until June last year won first place in the women's pole vault at Maine's Class B state indoor championship.

MAINE FEMALE ATHLETE ‘GRATEFUL’ FOR TRUMP'S FOCUS ON TRANS COMPETITORS AFTER LOCAL LEADERS ‘FAILED’ GIRLS

Maine's primary governing body for high school athletics said they would defer to state law that makes it illegal to determine someone's athletic eligibility on the basis of their gender identity. (Getty Images)

Maine's primary governing body for high school athletics, the Maine Principal's Association, confirmed that it did not intend to follow Trump's executive order after it came out. Rather, the association said they would defer to state law that makes it illegal to determine someone's athletic eligibility on the basis of their gender identity. 

Sarah Perry, a civil rights attorney who has extensive experience litigating Title IX issues, said that in addition to Trump's executive order, Maine is also flouting directives from the Department of Education and previously established precedent from a slew of cases that challenged former President Joe Biden's Title IX regulations allowing athletic eligibility to be determined by one's preferred gender identity. 

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"Within six weeks [after Biden's Title IX ruling] we had 11 federal lawsuits brought by 26 states, in addition to a handful of others – the Biden administration has lost every time," Perry pointed out.

Perry added that besides the obvious risk of losing funding, these states also open themselves up to federal Title IX investigations, something she said could potentially force them to comply with Trump's demands.

Fox News Digital attempted to reach out to the governor's office for comment but did not hear back.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/dem-governor-fundraises-off-dust-up-trump-trans-sports