Trans voters interviewed in four competitive states described anger at Democrats who have backed away from trans rights. Many still plan to support those candidates on Nov. 3, The 19th reported Oct. 28 with Uncloseted Media.
The interviews included trans people and their families in South Carolina, Ohio, Iowa and Texas. Several feared Republican victories more. Others said Democrats had lost their votes. The reporting describes individual decisions, not a poll of trans voters.
Annie Andrews’ Ad After Trump’s Slur in South Carolina
Trump used an anti-trans slur three times on Truth Social to attack Annie Andrews, the pediatrician running as the Democratic nominee for Senate in South Carolina, WCSC reported Oct. 6. Her opponent is Republican Darline Graham.
Andrews answered with an ad. It says she “does not support biological men playing women’s sports” and “doesn’t support gender surgery for minors,” ABC News 4 reported.
Twenty LGBTQ+-aligned groups in the state then put out an open letter. “We condemn the transphobic attacks, slurs, and fear-based political messages,” they wrote. “Transgender youth, especially, should not have to bear the consequences of political campaigns conducted at their expense.”
David Bell, a Navy veteran in South Carolina, told The 19th: “Answering the way she did only solidifies that we’re leaving trans people behind, because she’s using the same rhetoric.”
Amy Acton and the Equality Ohio Grade Change
Amy Acton, the Democrat running for Ohio governor, told the Toledo Blade this summer that she opposes “boys playing in girls’ sports,” the Statehouse News Bureau reported. She called it settled law in Ohio that she’d uphold.
Equality Ohio initially moved Acton’s grade from A to pending, according to the Statehouse News Bureau. By Oct. 28, it had given her a B, The 19th reported. Her campaign spokesperson, Addie Bullock, had responded to the earlier criticism without addressing the sports comments.
Kathleen Burns of Columbus called the remark “just really hurtful and betraying,” The 19th reported. Burns is cisgender; her spouse is trans and nonbinary. Neither plans to vote for Acton.
Rob Sand and Josh Turek in Iowa
Rob Sand, the Democratic nominee for Iowa governor, told Politico that “girls’ sports are for girls,” Reuters reported. At a town hall he said he tends to agree with Republicans that trans women and girls should be kept off female teams.
Josh Turek, the party’s Senate nominee, doesn’t support gender-affirming surgery for minors, his campaign told PolitiFact in June. He has also said he opposes “taxpayers paying for sex changes,” The 19th reported.
Aime Wichtendahl, the first trans person elected to the Iowa Legislature, told Reuters, “You don’t have to capitulate and use Republican talking points to win elections.”
Des Moines resident Annie Sarcone is 34 and uses they/them pronouns. They’re voting for the Democrats too. “I have decided that, and it’s hard. I’m not going to lie, it’s really hard,” Sarcone told The 19th.
James Talarico Says There Are Two Sexes in Texas Senate Race
In Texas, Democratic Senate nominee James Talarico gave Fox News a blunt answer in Dallas in September. “There are not six sexes. There are two,” he said, The National News Desk reported. He said he’d “absolutely” vote for a national ban on surgery for minors. On sports, he said, “Every sport has to be safe and fair.”
None of it has slowed the attacks on him. Republican groups spent about $58 million on trans-themed ads in Texas’s Senate race through Oct. 25, the Associated Press reported, part of an estimated $183 million nationwide.
Bryanna Jenkins, a Houston attorney, told The 19th: “I’ve had to abandon the desire and hope that they’ll say that they’re pro-trans.”
Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 3.
