With less than two weeks until the U.S. midterm elections, polling offers little comfort to Republicans, who risk losing several Senate seats. Facing an uncertain electoral landscape, Texas Senator Ted Cruz has settled on a convenient scapegoat: “transgender witches.”
Asked on Fox News about polling and voting intentions in several states, the Republican senator acknowledged that “eight to ten” Senate races would be decided within the margin of error. He then added that “if you’re a left-wing transgender witch, you hate Donald Trump and you’re going to go vote. You want to.”
A Deliberate Campaign Strategy
While the phrasing may surprise, it above all illustrates the central place issues around transgender identity have taken in the Republican campaign. Since Donald Trump’s return to the White House, his camp has multiplied messages targeting transgender people as well as the Democrats who defend their rights.
And this offensive is not limited to statements by public officials. According to AdImpact data cited by CNN, Republican advertisers have spent more than $60 million since the start of the year on more than 190 television spots referencing transgender people.
Elon Musk, who has cut ties with his transgender daughter, is also taking part in the campaign through his super PAC, America PAC. According to The 19th, the group aired at least 38 ads on social media in less than a week, the majority of them targeting transgender people. Some used caricatured depictions of transgender women.
“Don’t You Have Better Things to Do?”
As early as 2024, Donald Trump attacked his Democratic opponent in the race for the White House, saying among other things: “Kamala is for they/them, President Trump is for you.”
Faced with this Republican offensive, some Democrats have decided to respond and contest the ground. In an ad released on October 13 and spotted by Them, a young girl discovers a man in a restroom. He introduces himself as a Republican official tasked with verifying that no transgender person is using a restroom that does not correspond to their sex assigned at birth. “Don’t you have better things to do?” the girl asks. The ad seeks to denounce, through absurdity, the place given to this issue in Republican discourse.
What remains to be seen is which of these strategies will make the difference at the polls on November 3.
