Although this election is shaping up to be a referendum on Donald Trump and his myriad unpopular policies, that hasn’t stopped some Republicans from making transgender issues the focus of their attacks on their Democratic opponents.
Democrats in safe seats have been campaigning on what’s top of mind for most voters, but in close races that could end up being the deciding factor in which party wields the most power next year, the culture wars rage on. And Democrats are responding in sometimes surprising ways.
Republican rhetoric about trans people has gotten increasingly noxious over the last several years.Transgender children playing sports and using locker rooms that match their gender identity has been messaged as letting men and boys into girls’ spaces. And health care for transgender minors has become surgeries and mutilating children. As Democrats figure out how to repel the attacks, some have adapted the same stigmatizing language.
In Ohio, Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-OH) is running against Republican Derek Merrin. Kaptur, who has held the seat since 1983, has leaned into the right’s framing of the issue.
“I voted with Republicans to keep transgender ideology out of our schools, because parents know what’s best for their kids,” she said in an ad this month.
The move drew swift criticism from local Democrats, who are calling on Kaptur to take down the ad. “This is the type of harmful ad we expect from Derek Merrin and the Republicans,” the Lucas County Democrats, who endorsed Kaptur, wrote in a letter. “We are disappointed and ashamed that the Kaptur campaign stooped to their level by using this incredibly dangerous anti-trans rhetoric.”
Even in districts that went for Trump in 2024, the GOP has upped the ante on anti-transgender ads. In Iowa, Democrat Sarah Trone Garriott used Republican rhetoric to fend off attacks from her opponent GOP Rep. Zach Nunn (IA-03). After Nunn began airing an ad attacking her support for trans kids playing sports, she responded with her own saying she wanted to set the record straight.
“I'm Sarah Trone Garriott, and I oppose letting men in women's locker rooms and voted to let parents, not politicians, make decisions for their kids,” she said in the television spot.
In other parts of the country, the GOP is lobbing similar styles of attacks against their Democratic opponents.
Texas State Rep. James Talarico, who is in a very close contest for a U.S. Senate seat, is running against the state’s scandal-ridden Republican attorney general, Ken Paxton. Facing historic unpopularity, Paxton and other members of the GOP have made transphobic ads against Talarico and used his past statements about gender identity in their criticisms of him.
Earlier this month, Talarico shifted his message. “Every sport has to be safe and fair,” he said during a Fox News interview. “As a former public school teacher, I care a lot about our student athletes, I care a lot about our students. And so I will oppose trans athletes playing in girls’ sports if it risks safety or fairness.”
It wasn’t a dramatic about-face, but it was a new caveat to his previous stance of allowing kids to play sports on teams that match their gender identity.
Despite the attack ads, the midterm elections don’t appear to be a referendum on trans rights. Instead, most voters say their top concern is the economy as the Iran war continues seemingly without an end date and continues to squeeze people at the gas pump and in the grocery store.
And perhaps there’s a way to answer questions and talk about transgender issues while still focusing on what voters care about.
Abdul El-Sayed is the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in Michigan, another tight race that could tip the chamber to the Democrats. Though the contest is very close, El-Sayed didn’t come out against gender-affirming care or support bans for trans kids playing sports.
In an interview with Fox News’ Jesse Watters, El-Sayed made it clear he wanted to focus on the issues impacting Michiganders, not culture war issues. “I just think the government shouldn’t tell you what kind of healthcare you should have,” El-Sayed said when Watters asked him if he supported “sex changes for minors.”
And on sports, El-Sayed appeared to want to stay in his lane. “At the end of the day, the decision of who gets to play what sports ought to be decided by the people who govern sports,” he said.
“I’m running for U.S. Senate, Jesse. It’s insane. I’m out here trying to take on, like, the healthcare crisis and Big Pharma, and you’re asking me about who gets to play what sports.”