Democrats geared up Tuesday to grill Defense Secretary nominee Pete Hegseth on his past behavior and opposition to women serving in combat roles during his potentially explosive confirmation hearing — despite him publicly walking back the controversial comments.

The senators will likely dredge up his past comments about female troops, as well as allegations of sexual assault and excessive drinking leveled against him, as they question whether he’s the right person to lead the Pentagon.

“He can try to walk back his comments on women in combat all he wants, but we know what he thinks, right?” Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) said ahead of Tuesday’s hearing.

Duckworth, an Iraq War veteran who lost her legs and partial use of her right arm when the Black Hawk helicopter she was piloting for the Army National Guard was shot down in 2004, added: “He’s the most unqualified person to ever be nominated for secretary of defense.”

Hegseth came out firmly against allowing female troops to serve in combat during an appearance on the “Sean Ryan Show” podcast late last year.

“I’m straight up just saying we should not have women in combat roles,” he said at the time. “It hasn’t made us more effective. Hasn’t made us more lethal. Has made fighting more complicated.”

In his latest book, “The War on Warriors: Behind the Betrayal of the Men Who Keep Us Free,” Hegseth said women have a place in dangerous support roles in warzones, but “women in the infantry — women in combat on purpose — is another story.” 

“Women cannot physically meet the same standards as men … Dads push us to take risks. Moms put the training wheels on our bikes,” he wrote. “We need moms. But not in the military, especially in combat units.”

He later softened his view, arguing that his comments had been “misconstrued.”

“Some of our greatest warriors, our best warriors out there, are women,” Hegseth told Fox News’ Sean Hannity last month, adding that the critical service of women soldiers helps the US defend itself “every single day around the globe.”

Women have only had the right to serve in direct ground combat roles since 2013.

Hegseth also will be forced to confront allegations he sexually assaulted a woman and later paid her off to stay quiet — claims he has long denied.

A woman in 2017 alleged Hegseth forced himself on her and blocked her from leaving his hotel room, according to a police report from the Monterey, Calif., police department.

The woman also said she did not have a full recognition of the night, but “remembered saying ‘no’ a lot.”

Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) told Punchbowl News she plans to ask Hegseth — like every other nominee — if they have been accused of sexual assault.

“I will ask him those questions and we will see what his answers are,” Hirono said. “I’m focused on the things that are already out in public, such as him signing a [non-disclosure agreement] with the woman who alleges that he raped her.”