ATLANTA (AP) 鈥� After losing the White House and both houses of Congress, Democrats are grappling with how to handle transgender politics and policy following a campaign that featured on the issue.
There is plenty of second-guessing after President-elect anchored his victory over Vice President with on the economy and immigration. But Democrats also will not soon forget the punchline in anti-transgender Trump ads that became ubiquitous by Election Day: 鈥淜amala is for they/them; President Trump is for you.鈥�
鈥淲eek by week when that ad hit and stuck and we didn鈥檛 respond, I think that was the beginning of the end,鈥� former Democratic Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell said of the 30-second spot that was part of $215 million in anti-transgender advertising by Trump and Republicans, according to tracking firm AdImpact.
鈥淭hey painted her as something I don鈥檛 think she is," Rendell said. 鈥淭hey painted her as a far-left liberal.鈥�
The fallout leaves some progressive and moderate Democrats struggling between the party鈥檚 modern identity as a champion of civil rights and its electoral fortunes across swaths of America with whom those attacks resonated.
鈥淭here are just a number of issues where we鈥檙e out of touch,鈥� Rep. Seth Moulton, a moderate Massachusetts Democrat said in an interview, days after he set off recriminations within his party for saying he didn't want his daughters playing in sports against biological males. Critics said Moulton echoed Trump鈥檚 talking points about liberals allowing 鈥渕en to compete in women鈥檚 sports.鈥�
鈥淚 think that Republicans have a hateful position on trans issues,鈥� Moulton told The Associated Press, but insisted that Democrats still lose voters because of the party鈥檚 鈥渁ttitude.鈥�
鈥淩ather than talk down to you and tell you what to believe,鈥� he argued, Democrats should 鈥渓isten to hard-working Americans.鈥�
LGBTQ+ advocates, meanwhile, are arguing that the 2024 election turned more on economic issues than Trump鈥檚 transgender rhetoric. They're urging political leaders to counter misinformation that they say threatens the health and safety of transgender Americans, who make up less than 1% U.S. population.
鈥淭rans people have been existing and co-existing,鈥� receiving health care and participating in society for years, said Sarah Kate Ellis, CEO of GLAAD, a leading LGBTQ+ advocacy group. 鈥淣othing new happened,鈥� Ellis said, other than Republicans singling them out in a presidential campaign year.
鈥淚t didn鈥檛 change one vote,鈥� Ellis argued. 鈥淏ut it did make the world way more dangerous for trans people.鈥�
Another Democratic Massachusetts lawmaker, Rep. , didn't name Moulton, but said some reactions to the election 鈥渟capegoated and dehumanized鈥� transgender people. 鈥淭his Congresswoman sees you and loves you,鈥� Pressley wrote on the social media platform X.
Certainly it鈥檚 difficult, if not impossible, to pinpoint single issues that can tip a national election, and there are mixed findings on what voters think about transgender rights.
According to AP VoteCast, a survey of more than 120,000 people who cast ballots this fall, 54% of voters overall said support for transgender rights in government and society has gone too far. About 2 in 10 said support has not gone far enough and another 2 in 10 said it鈥檚 about right. But among Trump voters, 85% said transgender support had gone too far.
Still, slightly more than half of all voters, 52%, oppose banning gender affirming medical treatment such as hormone therapy and puberty blockers, while 47% support such proposals.
About one-quarter of Harris voters said support for transgender rights in government and society has gone too far. About 4 in 10 said it鈥檚 been about right and about 4 in 10 said it hasn鈥檛 gone far enough.
Trump and Republicans were relentless in trying to capitalize on the issue. They piled on transgender athletes, with Trump two Olympic boxers as transgender women. They used Harris' comments as a presidential candidate in 2019 鈥� before she became vice president 鈥� effectively to blame her for laws granting transgender health care to federal prisoners and detainees.
And Trump repeatedly and falsely claimed that 鈥測our kid goes to school and comes home a few days later with an operation鈥� changing their sex.
In reality, the has held that bars discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity 鈥� but rules do not explicitly address transgender athletes. Federal law that Trump ads cited does require people in U.S. government custody to have access to gender-affirming medical treatments. Those policies were in place throughout Trump鈥檚 2017-21 term; they are not something Biden鈥檚 administration instituted specifically.
And it is not legal in any state for a school to determine and carry out surgical treatment for minor students.
鈥淵ou gotta fight back鈥� with those explanations, Moulton said, adding that the silence compounds the negative effects for transgender people. 鈥淲hat did we show about our willingness to stand up for trans people by just being silent and ignoring the issue and ignoring the attack?鈥�
Still, Moulton said Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill and in statehouses should give individual elected officials and voters the space to take more conservative positions, and he defended his own comments that he doesn't want his daughters competing in athletics against men.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 want them getting run over on a playing field by a male or formerly male athlete, but as a Democrat I鈥檓 supposed to be afraid to say that,鈥� Moulton told The New York Times last week.
Before he his post as Texas Democratic chairman, Gilberto Hinojosa said supporting transgender rights doesn鈥檛 necessarily have to include public funding for gender reassignment surgery.
鈥淲e can say, 鈥橭K, we respect people鈥檚 right to say, we don鈥檛 want my taxpayer money to be used for that,'" Hinojosa told Texas Public Radio. Hinojosa later apologized via social media, saying LGBTQ Americans 鈥渄eserve to feel seen, valued and safe in our state and our party.鈥�
Ellis, the CEO of GLAAD, pointed to Delaware voters choosing to make state Sen. the first transgender member of Congress as evidence that Americans 鈥渄on鈥檛 hate trans people.鈥�
For her part, McBride, a Democrat from Delaware, noted that she did not run on her identity 鈥� though it was not a secret 鈥� and instead talked to voters about 鈥渁ffordable health care, housing and child care鈥� for everyone.
鈥淭he party that was focused on culture wars, the party that was focused on trans people was the Republican Party,鈥� McBride told reporters on Capitol Hill after her victory. 鈥淚t was Donald Trump,鈥� she added, who 鈥渨as trying to divide and distract from the fact that he has absolutely no policy solutions for the issues that are actually keeping voters up at night.鈥�
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Levy reported from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Associated Press writer Farnoush Amiri in Washington contributed to this report.
Bill Barrow And Marc Levy, The Associated Press
