After Trump called Annie Andrews an anti-trans slur, the Democrat now calls trans women ‘biological men’

In the continuing race to see who can throw transgender people under the bus most quickly, South Carolina Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate Annie Andrews has released a new direct-to-camera campaign ad in which she states that she does not support trans athletes playing in sports that affirm their gender identity.

The 30-second TV spot, released Thursday, features Andrews in a lab coat responding to Trump’s depiction of her as a trans ally in a fearmongering attempt to bolster support for her Republican opponent, Darline Graham Nordone, sister of the late senator Lindsey Graham.

“Politics can get pretty ugly,” Andrews says at the top of the ad. “And when it does, you deserve to hear the truth. My career as a pediatrician has always been about taking care of kids, and I’ve got three of my own, so I want you to hear me loud and clear.”

She continues, “I don’t support biological men playing women’s sports, and I don’t support and haven’t ever performed gender surgery for minors.”

Andrews’ ad comes just three days after Trump used an anti-trans slur to refer to Andrews in a post on Truth Social.

“Annie ‘Trannie’ Andrews is running against our wonderful Darline Graham for the Senate in South Carolina,” Trump said at the top of the post. He continued, “Darline is a High Quality person, maybe the Highest, and Annie Trannie is not, in particular, as it pertains to representing the Values of the Great People of South Carolina — She is in favor of Transgender for Everyone, Open Borders, Defunding the Police, High Taxes, a Weak Military, and will absolutely fight to take your guns away.” He used the T-slur one more time in the post, saying that Andrews is “not for South Carolina.”

Andrews’ ad reaffirms her previous public stance on trans athletes in sports. In September, Andrews told Forbes that she doesn’t “support biological men playing in women’s sports and I also don’t support and have never performed gender surgery on minors.”

She continued, saying that the rhetoric against her is “culture war, Washington, D.C. national talking points, because she doesn’t have a plan. She doesn’t have a plan to address the affordability crisis that South Carolinians are facing.”

Republican Super PACs are using a similar strategy in the South Carolina Senate race. In an ad from the Security Is Strength PAC, shared on Truth Social by Donald Trump, an AI-generated trans person stalks a young girl through a supermarket and eventually declares that Andrews “has my vote.”

Despite her current position, and her apparent reference to trans women as “biological men,” in 2022, Andrews opposed South Carolina’s version of the Save Women’s Sports Act, which banned trans women from playing on sports teams that matched their gender identity.

“This is shameful legislation that does nothing to protect or support women or children in SC. In fact, it is actively harmful,” Andrews wrote on X in 2022. I will always support trans youth.” Andrews added a trans flag emoji to the tweet.

Though South Carolina is usually a deeply red state, Andrews has ridden the blue wave currently affecting the upcoming midterm elections in November. Recent polls give her opponent, Graham Nordone, only a one-point advantage. A Democrat hasn’t represented South Carolina in the Senate since 2005, when Fritz Hollings retired and was replaced by Republican Jim DeMint.

Trans issues have become a GOP Hail Mary tactic in the midterm cycle as they face anti-Trump national headwinds. In response, multiple Democratic candidates, including James Talarico, have staked out positions similar to Andrews' in an apparent attempt to thread the needle.

Asked about attempts to walk a middle road on trans rights in the midterm elections by The Advocate, Human Rights Campaign president Kelley Robinson said, “My honest answer is you’re doing too much and getting too little. You don’t have to sacrifice any member of our community to win in these races, to have a message that resonates with voters.”

Get the best of what’s queer. Sign up for Them’s newsletters.