'I'm not your prop', Tim Walz
At a March 2026 congressional hearing, Mace again pressed Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz to 'define a woman'; Walz replied, 'I'm not here to be your prop for your obsession,' a retort that drew wide coverage, with right-leaning outlets framing it as Mace scoring a point, while mainstream reporting favored Walz's rejoinder.
Across two separate congressional hearings, June 2025 and March 5, 2026, Rep. Nancy Mace pressed Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz to answer the question "What is a woman?" according to reporting by Mediaite and Yahoo News. At the March 2026 hearing, Walz pushed back within seconds of his allotted time, delivering the line "I'm not here to be your prop for your obsession," according to Mediaite. Mace responded, "So if you can't define what a woman is, you can't define fraud." The exchange drew split reactions: right-leaning outlets characterized Mace as having scored a rhetorical point, while mainstream coverage highlighted Walz's "obsession" retort as the defining moment of the clash, per Mediaite's reporting.
The June 2025 exchange (cited by reporting, Mediaite):
"What do you want me to say?" Walz said. "I want you to say that a woman like me is an adult human female. That men can't become women," Mace told him. "You guys are the party of violence, and you're the party erasing women."
From the June 2025 hearing, quoted by Mediaite.
The March 2026 retort (cited by reporting, Mediaite):
"I'm the governor of Minnesota, congresswoman, I'm not here to be your prop for your obsession!", Gov. Tim Walz
"So if you can't define what a woman is, you can't define fraud.", Rep. Nancy Mace
The exchange at the March 5, 2026 hearing, as quoted by Mediaite.