Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur is telling voters in her Ohio district that she opposes transgender ideology in schools and biological males in girls’ sports.
She highlighted the break with her party as she runs for reelection in a district redrawn this year in Republicans’ favor.
“Here’s the truth: I voted with Republicans to keep transgender ideology out of our schools, because parents know what’s best for their kids,” she said in a new ad. “And boys should not play in girls’ sports.”
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It is a striking turnaround for Ms. Kaptur, who has long supported the Equality Act, a bill that would prohibit discrimination based on gender identity.
Other Democrats in competitive House races are making the same pivot in the transgender culture wars.
In Iowa, Democrat Sarah Trone Garriott is trying to get ahead of Republican Rep. Zach Nunn on the issue.
“I oppose letting men in women’s locker rooms,” Ms. Trone Garriott said in an ad, accusing Republicans of mischaracterizing her position.
Democrats are also stepping back from the party’s LGBTQ ideology in close races for other offices.
James Talarico, a Texas state representative running as the Democratic U.S. Senate nominee, and Iowa gubernatorial candidate Rob Sand have come out in opposition to transgender athletes in women’s sports.
Politically, it makes sense in competitive races. Nearly three-quarters of U.S. adults said they are uncomfortable with transgender athletes competing on sports teams that do not match their assigned sex at birth, according to a Pew Research Center survey published in August.
So it is not just conservative voters whom Democrats are losing on transgender rights.
“Even amongst Democrats, they have had questions about these issues that these Democratic candidates have to be able to answer,” said Lanae Erickson, senior vice president for social policy, education and politics of Third Way, a center-left think tank.
Democratic candidates learned a hard lesson on transgender issues in 2024, when Republicans ran ads highlighting Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris’ support of taxpayer-funded gender transitions for inmates with the stinging “Kamala is for they/them, President Trump is for you” slogan.
In Ms. Kaptur’s new ad, she frames transgender issues as a distraction. She urges viewers not to “let them change the subject” away from more pressing concerns, such as inflation and the war with Iran.
Republicans are hammering Democrats on transgender issues. Elon Musk’s America PAC and the Trump-aligned No Going Back PAC are investing heavily in ads criticizing Democrats’ transgender stances.
One ad hits Iowa state Sen. Lindsay James, a Democrat running for U.S. House.
“Lindsay James voted to allow puberty blockers for children, taxpayer-funded reassignment surgeries, and even to allow boys in girls’ sports,” says the narrator in a No Going Back PAC ad. “Don’t let Lindsay James hide her radical views.”
Ms. James, who, in a March 2023 interview, called children’s access to gender treatment “medically necessary,” made a forceful pivot in response to the ad.
“Dark money groups are lying about me,” she said. “We need to protect kids, and we need commonsense rules to keep sports fair. … Parents know what’s best for kids. Washington needs to stay out of it.”
Adrienne Kimmell, a consultant who crafted a memo for Democratic messaging on transgender issues, told The Washington Times that the attack ads are “doing a lot of work for Republicans … branding the Democratic Party as extreme, out of touch, chaotic.”
In her memo, she tells Democrats to frame the transgender debate around protecting individual freedom, protecting parental freedom and opposing government overreach or interference. Then, she advises, Democrats should refocus on issues such as the economy.
“Candidates who don’t respond to the attacks are making a mistake,” Ms. Kimmell told The Times.
Democrat Sherrod Brown, a former U.S. senator attempting a comeback in Ohio, is following a similar strategy.
“Here they go again — those same attacks against Sherrod Brown,” his supporters say in a new ad. “With everything going on, that’s what they’re talking about? In Ohio, it’s illegal to perform transgender surgeries on kids.”
The ad then blames the costs of groceries and healthcare on his Republican opponent’s votes, arguing that matters more.
Adam Frisch is director of electoral programs and finance chair for WelcomePAC, a pro-Democratic group that backs candidates in conservative-leaning congressional districts.
He ran against Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert in Colorado in 2022 and lost by 546 votes — the closest House race of that cycle.
He said Democrats alienate voters on social issues, which is the party’s biggest obstacle to gains in the midterms.
“The policies are downstream from values and culture, and if people don’t feel that the candidate on the other side gets where these people are socially, you’re not going to get their vote,” he told The Times.
Democrats would only benefit, he said, from aligning themselves with the vast majority of voters who do not want boys playing girls’ sports — but also want “everyone to be left alone and live their lives as they want to live them.”
His advice for candidates in red districts: “You cannot be conservative enough on social issues.”
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