Democratic operatives want candidates to talk about trans athletes — very quickly, one time — and then move on

This story originally appeared on Them.

Backed into a rhetorical corner by President Donald Trump and the GOP’s escalating attacks ahead of the November midterm elections, Democrats are being advised to take a middle-of-the-road position on transgender athletes rather than ignore the issue entirely, per a new report in Politico.

Rather than avoid talking about trans athletes, Democratic advisors are telling Democrats to state their position and move onto other issues, including affordability and the rising cost of living, according to the political news outlet.

“Silence is deadly on these issues and that’s the playbook we tried in 2024,” Lanae Erickson, senior vice president at center-left think tank Third Way, told Politico. “Democrats have to be super clear that we want fair rules in sports made by sports associations and parents to be in charge of their kids’ health care.”

Erickson said that, after answering those questions, Democrats should “turn things back to the main issues of costs and things that impact voters’ lives more.”

The November midterm cycle will mark the first major nationwide vote since the 2024 election, which Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris lost in part due to a Republican culture war stoked by anti-trans rhetoric. Despite trans issues not ranking highly on voters’ self-reported list of priorities, ads such as “Kamala Is for They/Them,” a TV spot painting Harris as radical when it comes to trans rights, had an undeniable impact on the election. The ad ended up being of Trump’s most successful, shifting the race 2.7 percentage points in Trump’s favor after people viewed it, per the New York Times.

The anti-trans playbook has not abated in this midterm cycle. When Republicans convened in Dallas this week for a national midterm convention in Dallas, Texas, Hasan Piker’s “meat pic” may have been the most eye-catching headline, but speakers were largely focused on anti-trans rhetoric. The majority of speeches featured anti-trans messaging — including talks by JD Vance, Speaker Mike Johnson, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, National Republican Senatorial Committee Chair Tim Scott, Trump and others — with much of it focused on trans athletes and gender-affirming care, per Politico.

“It’s one of our great soundbites of all time,” Trump said on Wednesday at the convention, referencing his past ads highlighting Democrats as overly accepting of trans people.

Matt Angle, a Texas-based veteran Democratic strategist, told Politico that Democrats should use James Talarico, the seminarian turned state lawmaker and Senate candidate, as a model when it comes to handling trans issues.

“James should continue to respond the way he has, very disciplined,” Angle said. “Republicans are trying their best to change the subject and divert attention away from a profound failure, but it’s not shaking James’ focus on gas prices and what it costs to make a living.”

During an appearance on Fox News on Wednesday, Talarico seemed to reverse course on his previous position in support of trans athletes, instead emphasizing “fairness.” Talarico said he “would oppose trans athletes playing in girls sports if it endangers safety or fairness.”

“Every sport has to be safe and fair,” Talarico said. “As a former public school teacher, I care a lot about our student athletes. I care a lot about our students.”

The Texas Senate candidate has previously spoken against bills seeking to restrict trans athletes' participation in sports that match their gender identity, opposing HB 4042 in Texas in 2021 with comments seeming to suggest that he perceived the “fairness” conversation as secondary to ensuring trans inclusion. “Some things are more important than perfectly fair competition in sports,” he said in a speech about the bill, according to the Austin American-Statesman.

Previously, Talarico has also redirected away from conversation about trans athletes to talk about affordability. While speaking to MS Now, formerly MSNBC, in March, Talarico criticized the media for asking questions about trans athletes rather than the cost of living.

“The only thing the media wants to ask me about are trans athletes,” he said. “What I would say is that the only minority destroying this country is the billionaires.” Referencing about the relatively small number of trans people and undocumented immigrants in the United States, Talarico added, “Trans people aren’t taking away our healthcare. Undocumented people aren’t defunding our schools… It’s the billionaires and their puppet politicians. And so we need not only the media, but all of us, to focus on the real problem at hand.”

Polls currently indicate that Democrats are likely to recapture the House, with a slim chance that they could take the Senate, as well. Aside from harping on transgender athletes, Republicans have also spent the last few months focusing on culture war issues, fixating on progressive streamer Hasan Piker and bashing the rising Democratic Socialists of America as “communist.”

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