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Republicans spent nearly $215 million on network TV ads vilifying transgender people this election cycle, according to data released by Ad Impact and cited by Washington Post reporter Casey Parks. This figure excludes spending on cable or streaming ads, meaning the total amount Republicans have spent on anti-trans ads is likely even higher.
“Attacking our community was without a doubt their #1 ad priority,” Montana state Representative Zooey Zephyr (D) wrote on X. “Today, the American people get the opportunity to rebuke that hate.”
There are an estimated 1.6 million transgender people over the age of 13 in the U.S. While trans people only represent around 1 percent of the U.S. population, this community has been increasingly targeted by the right in recent years.
“That’s $134 per trans person in anti-trans ad spending. To say that this assault on our community has been disproportionate is an understatement,” Alejandra Caraballo, clinical instructor at Harvard Law Cyberlaw Clinic, said on X.
Although voters say transgender issues are among the least important factors driving them to the polls, trans activists argue that Republicans are relying on anti-trans rhetoric to rally their base. In fact, according to transgender journalist Erin Reed, Donald Trump has spent more money on anti-trans ads than on ads concerning housing, immigration, and the economy combined.
“It’s been the biggest type of ad run by far by Republicans. This is their closing message,” Reed said on X.
One of the top ads pushed by the Trump campaign in October attacked Kamala Harris for supporting “taxpayer-funded sex changes for prisoners,” regarding her previous statements concerning access to gender-affirming care for incarcerated or detained people.
“I think that this is a classic fear campaign,” Reed told PBS News earlier this month. “[T]he purpose of a fear campaign is to distract you from issues that you normally care about by making you so afraid of a group of people, of somebody like me, for instance, that you’re willing to throw everything else away because you’re scared.”
This anti-trans ad campaign is part of a broader strategy reflected in Trump’s political platform, Agenda 47, which is filled with anti-trans policies that include a ban on trans people’s participation in women’s sports, a prohibition on federal or state funding for gender-affirming care, and other related measures.
“Anti-trans politicians keep recycling baseless rhetoric against the trans community, spending over $200 million dollars – money that could instead be invested into real issues like underfunded schools & rising living costs,” West Virginian trans activist Ash Orr said on X.
In addition to the anti-trans rhetoric promoted by the Trump campaign, groups like the Senate Leadership Fund, a Republican super PAC, have spent large sums on anti-trans ads with the aim of securing GOP victories in Senate races in Ohio, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. However, trans activists argue that the anti-trans rhetoric used in this election could backfire, just as it did in the 2022 midterms.
“If Republicans lose after spending nearly a quarter billion dollars on anti-trans ads, it will prove once and for all that trans rights do not mobilize voters,” trans activist Allison Chapman told Truthout. “Then, if we are lucky, maybe we will get to go back to just being seen as people and not as our genitalia or genetic makeup.”
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