U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., dismissively referred to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as “whatever this lady is” while talking about his bill to ban transgender athletes from women’s sports under Title IX.

During a Thursday appearance on Newsmax, Alabama’s senior senator referenced the progressive New York congresswoman when claiming Democrats’ views on transgender issues were contributing factor to the party losing the White House and the Senate in November.

“They have yet to figure out why they lost Nov. 5. Well, I’ll tell you why they lost: a major part of it was because they have lost their ever-loving minds. When they’re allowing boys or men to shower with girls, to dress with girls and to participate when it is very unsafe — it’s not going to happen,” Tuberville said.

“I got my first grandchild … and I promise you one thing,” the senator said, “she’s not going to participate in that but she’s going to have an opportunity to play sports because we’re going to beat back these Democrats on this nonsensical nonsense that they keep pushing and whatever this lady is — Cortez? — she has no business even talking because they have tried to destroy gender ever since she’s been into office.”

Tuberville has been pursuing the legislation, dubbed The Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act, since the Biden administration proposed new Title IX regulations for the 2023-24 school year to include:

• Protections for transgender and nonbinary students
• Expanded definition of sexual harassment
• New standards for determining the outcome of sexual assault cases
• More protections for pregnant and parenting students

Although the updates were ultimately scrapped, Tuberville said “Congress has to ensure this never happens again.”

The House passed the bill this week, with two conservative Democrats joining Republicans.

Ocasio-Cortez told The Independent she was pleased that most Democrats held the line in opposing the legislation.

“We can’t be ninnies about this,” she said, according to the outlet.. “These are just the early days. Trump hasn’t even been sworn in yet, and if a little bitty sports bill was gonna make Dems defect, we’re not in good shape.”

The Senate has yet to take up the bill but is expected to do so.