Op-ed: All that anti-trans money, and Republicans still got shellacked in Texas & everywhere else

I spent seven years on Capitol Hill and more than 25 years in public relations, so I think I know a thing or two about campaigns that fail miserably, messaging that falls flat and leaders who lose touch with constituents and consumers.

Failure can be epic, entirely avoidable and wildly expensive. On Tuesday night in Texas, Ken Paxton gave us one of the most visible lessons in that kind of failure that I have ever seen.

The man I’ve started to call “my man,” James Talarico, defeated Paxton to win a U.S. Senate seat in a state that hasn’t elected a Democrat to the Senate since 1988. That was when the beloved Sen. Lloyd Bentsen ran for vice president and the Senate at the same time. Texas law allowed him to run for both. He lost the vice presidency to Dan Quayle — the lite version of JD Vance — and remained in the Senate until 1993, when he resigned to become President Bill Clinton’s treasury secretary.

Related: James Talarico wins Texas Senate seat in race focused on masculinity and anti-trans attacks

As a side note, I met Bentsen twice. He was one of the most respected senators in history. I think he’s quite happy this morning, and I think Talarico will make him proud.

Also in Texas, Gina Hinojosa defeated Gov. Greg Abbott that same night. Republicans threw everything they had at these Democrats, including a lot of Elon Musk’s money. Gee, for a guy who claims to be frugal, he sure threw away a helluva lot of money in Texas.

His money, and that of others, went toward trying to scare the electorate about transgender people.

The scale of the failure and the amount of money spent are staggering. AdImpact called this the most expensive nonpresidential race in American history, with more than $573 million in ad spending and reservations across the primary and general elections, from both parties and their supporters. That total covered all issues, not just anti-trans attacks. The Associated Press reported that Republican-backed TV ads on transgender issues alone cost around $58 million in the Texas Senate race, with more than 50,000 airings.

Nationally, the GOP-aligned America PAC poured roughly $100 million into anti-trans ads targeting Democrats.

Even Republicans saw that it wasn’t working. Dade Phelan, the former GOP Texas House speaker, told Texas Monthly the ads simply weren’t resonating and that after $100 million or more, nothing had moved. He suggested swing voters were tired of the subject.

Another quick side note: I have a longtime Republican friend in Texas who sent me a Facebook message with a link to one of those ads. His note simply asked, “Can you believe this shit?”

The attacks also became personal: Republicans tried to suggest that Talarico himself might be trans. The premise was that being transgender was something shameful — an insult that could disqualify a candidate.

Paxton’s first general election ad branded him "too low-T for Texas.” Stephen Miller went on Fox News and called Talarico the Democrats’ "first transgender Senate candidate.” God, Miller is so reprehensible.

President Donald Trump piled on, referring to him as "this transgender." Rep. Brandon Gill declared that Talarico "wants to trans your kids." Rep. Wesley Hunt posted "what's his name" when Talarico said he had a female partner. A PAC released an AI-generated video of Talarico in a dress.

Related: Ken Paxton’s new anti-trans attack on James Talarico is literally fake

What the GOP did to Talarico was not only gross and offensive; it was shamefully stupid. Talarico campaigned on faith, health care, and corruption. Using "transgender" as an insult isn’t just cruel to trans people. It’s a confession that Republicans’ idea of strength depends on treating someone else as lesser.

Back in my Toys "R" Us days, our team made annual predictions about the hot toys for summer and the holidays. I learned that you can spend a fortune pushing a product, but if people don’t want it, they don’t want it.

And wow, did Texans reject this anti-trans sales pitch. It didn’t keep Talarico out of the Senate. It didn’t save Paxton. And its cruelty is beyond the pale.

So here’s my message to Democrats, and I say it as someone who has watched too many of them flinch or waffle when talking about the trans community: Stop f’ing flinching. Talarico ran as a candidate with clear convictions, and he refused to treat trans Texans as a liability. I believe voters rewarded that approach. His victory certainly undermines the argument that Democrats must abandon trans people to compete in a state like Texas.

One takeaway is that voters, for the most part, can smell a diversion. Texans have an electric grid that has failed them, health care they can’t afford and an attorney general, Paxton, who was impeached by the Republican-led Texas House — though the state Senate acquitted him.

The anti-trans sideshow wasn’t enough to persuade them to send him to Washington.

Looking ahead to 2028, Democrats should not abandon their principles to appease people who will never vote for them anyway. Talarico’s victory shows that standing with trans people need not prevent a Democrat from winning. You win by doing the right thing: telling the truth, standing next to the vulnerable and refusing to waver on the dignity of human beings.

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