Republicans and their allies spent an estimated $183 million on trans-related television advertising during the general-election campaign through Oct. 25. The Associated Press reported the AdImpact figures Oct. 28. Spending at the same point in 2024 was about $151 million.
That bought roughly 217,000 spots. Democrats spent around $11 million on trans-related ads, mostly answering attacks.
Voters don’t rank the issue anywhere near the top. In an AP-NORC poll taken in October, about 1 in 10 registered voters called transgender issues “one of the most important issues” in the election. About 8 in 10 named the economy or the cost of living.
Trump is still leaning in. At a Monday night rally in Corinth, Mississippi, he said Democrats want to “promote the transgender mutilization of your children,” according to the AP.
Texas Senate Race Drew $58 Million in Trans-Themed Ads
The biggest share landed in Texas, where Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton faces Democratic state Rep. James Talarico for Senate. Trans-themed ads there cost about $58 million and aired more than 50,000 times.
Most of it came from Texas PAC, a super PAC backing Paxton. The Texas Tribune followed the money to Elon Musk. He gave the Senate Leadership Fund $75 million on Sept. 9 and $83 million about two weeks later. Each time, the fund moved the same amount into Texas PAC a day later, the Tribune found. Alex Latcham, the fund’s executive director, told Bloomberg TV the cash came from “generous investors who have dedicated money to an affiliate.”
One Texas PAC ad has aired nearly 17,000 times at a cost of more than $23 million. “If you care about your children, do not vote for James Talarico,” its narrator says. Another spot recycles Trump’s 2024 attack on Kamala Harris and calls Talarico a candidate for “they them, not you.”
Talarico has said he’d “absolutely” vote for a national ban on gender-affirming surgery for minors, The National News Desk reported.
PolitiFact Rated Senate Leadership Fund Ads on Sherrod Brown False
In Ohio, Republicans have put nearly $26 million into trans-themed attacks on Democrat Sherrod Brown, the former senator trying to unseat Sen. Jon Husted.
One Senate Leadership Fund ad claimed Brown backs “forcing childhood sex change surgery.” PolitiFact rated it False on Oct. 1. The ad leaned on a July 2023 WSYX-TV interview in which Brown said kids’ health care decisions belong with families and doctors. Ohio’s 2024 law already bars that surgery for minors, PolitiFact noted.
Fund spokesperson Chris Gustafson defended the ad. Brown “does not support any limitations on transgender or gender-affirming procedures on children,” he told PolitiFact.
A second ad features a Texas woman who says Brown supports “irreversible surgery on kids. Like me.” PolitiFact gave that claim a Pants on Fire rating Oct. 14. Her surgery happened in Texas when she was 19, and Brown had nothing to do with it. His campaign has called the ads a “total lie.”
Kansas and South Carolina Senate Races Also Draw Trans-Themed Spending
South Carolina, Kansas, Iowa and Mississippi saw heavy spending too. South Carolina topped $5 million. In Kansas, where Sen. Roger Marshall faces Democrat Adam Hamilton, about 7,000 airings cost nearly $7 million.
Musk’s own group, America PAC, separately launched online and streaming ads in September hitting Brown, Talarico, Iowa’s Josh Turek and Alaska’s Mary Peltola on trans issues, Axios reported.
Republican pollster Chris Wilson told the AP that GOP leaders think the issue can “expose a cultural disconnect” between Democratic candidates and voters. He isn’t sure the ads still change minds, though, or whether they just confirm what people already believe.
“Those are two very different things, and $100 million in spending doesn’t tell us which is happening,” Wilson said. “We’ll find that out on Election Day.”
Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 3.
