It took just 20 minutes into the Texas U.S. Senate debate on Tuesday evening for the issue of transgender rights to emerge—a topic Republicans have increasingly weaponized in the final days of the 2024 election.
Incumbent Republican Sen. Ted Cruz and Democratic U.S. Rep. Colin Allred turned to transgender rights when the moderator asked Allred to clarify his stance on transgender athletes and their participation in sports, referencing Cruz’s political ads that accused the congressman of undermining women’s sports. Cruz used the moment to amplify his ongoing culture war narrative, accusing Allred of supporting “boys playing in girls’ sports” and advocating for men to use women’s bathrooms. “It is not fair for a man to compete against women,” Cruz said.
Responding to the attack, Allred repeated the same framing, saying, “I don’t support boys playing girls’ sports.” Last week, Allred’s latest political ad that used the same wording raised the eyebrows of his supporters, particularly those in the LGBTQ+ community. Though he may have been trying to neutralize Cruz’s attacks, Allred’s choice of words echoed the very narrative Republicans have used to vilify transgender people. “Of course, I don’t support these ridiculous things that he’s talking about,” Allred said, pivoting to Cruz’s failures as a senator and the broader impact of his political priorities on Texans’ lives. “This is a desperate last-second attempt by Sen. Cruz to distract you because he can’t defend his own record,” Allred said.
Throughout the debate, Cruz repeatedly returned to the issue of transgender athletes, tying it into a broader culture war narrative. He framed Allred’s support for the bipartisan Equality Act, which would provide federal protections against discrimination for LGBTQ+ Americans, as an assault on women’s sports and an endorsement of policies that would “allow boys in girls’ bathrooms.” Cruz’s rhetoric was in line with a national strategy employed by Republicans, including former President Donald Trump, who have made the trans community a political wedge issue in the final days of the 2024 election. Over the past several weeks, Republicans have flooded the airwaves with anti-transgender ads, spending millions to push misinformation about transgender athletes and gender-affirming care.
Related: Donald Trump unleashes torrent of transphobic ads in last leg of 2024 election
The focus on transgender athletes is not only a Texas issue but part of a broader GOP strategy. There are about 1.6 million transgender people in the U.S., which makes up just 0.6 percent of the population aged 13 and older, according to the Williams Institute. Despite this, Republicans have invested heavily in political ads designed to stoke fears about this small community. Transgender youth are even more of a minority, with only 1.4 percent of those aged 13 to 17 identifying as transgender.
Allred dismissed Cruz’s attacks as fearmongering and accused the senator of using the issue to distract from his poor record. “He wants you thinking about kids in bathrooms, so you’re not thinking about women in hospitals,” Allred said, drawing attention to the real-world consequences of Texas’s near-total abortion ban, a law that Cruz has proudly supported. Allred highlighted the stories of women who have been forced to leave the state to seek medical care, describing the ban as a gross violation of personal freedom and bodily autonomy.
Allred also hammered Cruz for his record of absenteeism, reminding viewers of the senator’s infamous trip to Cancun during the 2021 winter storm that left millions of Texans without power. “When the lights went out in the energy capital of the world, he went to Cancun; on January 6th, when a mob was storming the capitol, he was hiding in a supply closet; and when the toughest border security bill in a generation came up in the United States Senate, he took it down,” Allred said, adding, “We don’t have to have a senator like this.”
Following the debate, LGBTQ+ advocates weighed in on Cruz’s attacks. Brandon Wolf, the national press secretary for the Human Rights Campaign, criticized Cruz for using trans rights as a political weapon. “Our debate takeaway is this: Ted Cruz is obsessed with sowing hate and division because he has nothing else to offer,” Wolf told The Advocate. “Texans deserve better than Ted Cruz’s transphobia and can send that message with their votes in November.”
According to recent surveys, the two candidates are within a few points of each other, with Cruz holding a slight edge but often within the margin of error. Texas, long considered a Republican stronghold, has been gradually shifting, particularly in urban and suburban areas where Democrats have made inroads. The race has caught national attention as a potential bellwether for broader shifts in the state’s political landscape.
The Cook Political Report currently rates the Texas U.S. Senate race as “lean Republican,” meaning it is competitive, but Cruz is still favored to win.
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