Riley Gaines
Social-conservative women's-sports activist, MAGA-aligned· 1.7M followers · tracked by RisingPolitics
49.6Credibility Score (0–100) · ranked #62 of the creators we track
Riley Gaines ranks #62 by credibility versus #82 by raw follower count — they reach a more credible audience than their follower total alone would suggest.
A former University of Kentucky All-American swimmer turned conservative activist and commentator. She rose to prominence after tying transgender swimmer Lia Thomas for fifth place at the 2022 NCAA championships, which she used to launch a career campaigning against transgender women competing in women's sports. She hosts the podcast Gaines for Girls and directs the Riley Gaines Center at the Leadership Institute.
Where Riley Gaines posts
YouTube35K subscribersVisit ↗XRiley_Gaines_ · 1.7M followersVisit ↗Common questions
Is Riley Gaines left or right?
Gaines is a conservative activist whose signature cause is opposing transgender women's participation in women's sports, a campaign she launched after tying Lia Thomas at the 2022 NCAA championships; she hosts the 'Gaines for Girls' podcast for OutKick, a Fox-owned sports-commentary outlet. She has been closely aligned with the Trump administration on this issue — she attended the February 2025 signing of Trump's 'No Men in Women's Sports' executive order, and in July 2025 the University of Pennsylvania, under administration pressure, erased Lia Thomas's records and apologized to affected swimmers including Gaines. Her activism extends into broader social conservatism: in June 2026 she signed a petition to criminalize abortion from fertilization, and she has vowed to campaign against Democratic senators who voted against a federal women's-sports bill. A brief public rift emerged in April 2026 when she urged "humility" after Trump posted an image of himself as Jesus and Trump replied that he was "not a big fan" of hers, but she reaffirmed her support for him and his agenda.
Positioning as of July 2026 · descriptive, not an endorsement. How we label lean
How credible is Riley Gaines's audience?
Riley Gaines scores 49.6 out of 100 on the RisingPolitics Credibility Score, ranking #62 among the political creators we track. The score starts with audience size, subtracts accounts that look fake, and weighs how strongly the audience actually engages.
How many followers does Riley Gaines have?
Riley Gaines has about 1.7M followers combined across YouTube and X.
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