A pair of Senate Democratic candidates have sought to insulate themselves from attacks by Republicans that they support transgender athletes, or as the right-wing ads claim, allowing “boys” or “biological men” to compete in women’s sports.

The shift by U.S. Rep. Colin Allred, who is challenging incumbent Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, and U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, locked in a tough re-election battle in right-leaning Ohio, indicates that the two Democrats seemingly believe that Republican attack ads on transgender issues have some salience among voters.

Both men have been attacked for supporting the Equality Act, a sweeping bill to prohibit discrimination against LGBTQ people in employment, housing, public accommodations, credit, lending, jury service, and other aspects of life — though it is decidedly silent on athletic participation.

Republicans have claimed that prohibiting discrimination based on gender identity will ultimately spread to the world of sports, allowing transgender females to compete on female-designated teams.

Additionally, the bill’s provisions for public accommodations would pertain to instances where transgender individuals are barred from accessing facilities like restrooms or locker rooms that align with their gender identity. 

Allred has also been attacked for voting against the so-called “Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act,” which passed the House of Representatives on a party-line 219-203 vote. If made law, the bill — which has not been voted upon in the Senate — would restrict participation in women’s sports to people assigned women at birth.

Schools, leagues, or organizations that allow transgender women and girls to compete on female-designated sports teams could potentially be stripped of federal financial assistance.

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In his own ad, which serves as a reply to anti-transgender ads being run by Cruz’s campaign, Allred explicitly says he doesn’t want “boys playing girls’ sports.”

“Ted Cruz is lying again, but now he’s lying about our children,” Allred says in the ad. “I’m a dad. I’m also a Christian. My faith has taught me that all kids are God’s kids. So let me be clear: I don’t want boys playing girls’ sports or any of this ridiculous stuff that Ted Cruz is saying.”

In their debate on October 15, Cruz revisited the issue, indicating he believes it can either sway independent voters his way, or at least activate the Republican base ahead of November’s election.

Cruz said Allred is a former NFL linebacker, asserting that it “is not fair for a man to compete against women, prompting Allred to reply, in part, “I don’t support boys playing girls’ sports.”

Despite Texas’s overwhelming Republican lean, Cruz only leads Allred by small margins in recent polls of the state.

You can watch the Allred ad below:

Trans rights advocates slammed Allred for caving to Republicans’ framing around the issue, and left-leaning critics have pointed to it as an example of how Democrats are willing to throw the transgender community “under the bus” to win electorally.

Transgender journalist Erin Reed called the ad “ill-advised” and accused him of employing an anti-transgender “dogwhistle” that will both fail to sway any Cruz voters and encourage left-leaning voters to either stay home on Election Day or skip the race on the ballot.

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Reaction on Twitter was negative, with right-wing accounts accusing Allred of lying, while left-leaning accounts called him cowardly.

Brown, meanwhile, released a commercial on Sunday responding to attacks lodged against him by the Senate Leadership Fund, a Republican-aligned political action committee supporting his opponent, Bernie Moreno. The PAC announced it will spend $83 million in advertising to defeat Brown, with most of its ads focusing on transgender rights and visibility, in keeping with the party’s almost-singular obsession during election years.

One of the ads run by the Senate Leadership Fund accuses Brown of having “voted multiple times to allow transgender biological males in women’s sports” while also alleging that he “supported allowing minor children to receive sex change surgeries.”

In response, Brown aligns himself with Republican Gov. Mike DeWine, arguing that decisions about transgender participation should be left up to individual sports leagues, not big government.

The commercial also notes that Ohio already bans transgender athletes from competing in women’s sports, and includes a local news “fact-check” that states that the commercial’s claims about Brown’s voting record are “false.”

Reaction from the Left and the trans community was understandably negative.

Erin Reed was not as critical in denouncing Brown’s ad as Allred’s, but wrote in her Erin in the Morning Substack that the efforts to distance themselves from transgender rights may not be an effective strategy for Democrats, noting that right-wing outlets have accused Allred of lying about his record.

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“Recently, some on social media have speculated that transgender athletics may be a ‘losing issue’ for Democrats — a view that could gain traction among campaigns wary of a wave of anti-transgender ads,” Reed writes. “But this notion is likely misguided. For organizations targeting transgender people, the end goal has never truly been about kids or sports. Anti-trans legislators are on the record stating the broader goal is the end of transgender people altogether. If they can convince the public to place an asterisk next to the gender identity of transgender athletes, it becomes much easier to extend that asterisk to bathrooms, youth rights, literature, and beyond.”

It is unclear exactly how effective anti-transgender ads are.

Most polling indicates that transgender issues actually play short-shrift to a host of other concerns in elections. Recent national polling by the Human Rights Campaign reveals that only 5% of voters say they’re concerned about gender-affirming care, for instance, compared to 52% who are concerned about the cost of living.

That same poll finds that 61% of voters claim they won’t support candidates who support banning gender-affirming care, including 41% of Republicans.

Similarly, a June poll by the Texas Politics Project found that Texan voters rank other issues, including immigration and border security, the economy, inflation, and abortion access, much higher than transgender issues. 

As a result, it may be until November — and possibly beyond — before political scientists can fully examine whether Republicans’ strategy of doubling down on opposition to transgender rights was effective, or whether Allred and Brown’s races were already lost causes due to the conservative bent of their respective states’ electorates.