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WASHINGTON — Congressional Republicans will spend millions on television ads this fall targeting Texas Democrats for supporting pro-LGBTQ+ legislation — a bet that issue will resonate more than the border or economy.

The National Republican Congressional Committee unveiled its first Texas ad of the general election on Tuesday, accusing U.S. Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, D-McAllen, of pushing “sex changes for kids.” U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, also unveiled Tuesday his campaign’s biggest ad buy yet for two ads accusing challenger U.S. Rep. Colin Allred, D-Dallas, of supporting legislation that allows men to use women’s restrooms and not knowing “the difference between boys and girls.”

Democrats and LGBTQ+ advocacy groups criticized the attacks as peddling dangerous and false narratives about transgender youth. Gonzalez and Allred also said the ads were a mischaracterization of their stances.

“The rhetoric is truly alarming, and trans Texans have dealt with a lot. They don't need their lives politicized,” said Johnathan Gooch, communications director at Equality Texas, an LGBTQ+ political rights group. “I think most Texans care about their grocery bill more than they care about anything else.”

Democrats question the strategy of focusing so heavily on the issue as opposed to others that have repeatedly come up in polling and focus groups as at the top of voters' minds, such as the economy and the border.

“Voters won’t fall for baseless and desperate lies about Vicente Gonzalez’s record,” Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spokesperson Lauryn Fanguen said in a statement. “While Mayra Flores voted against lowering health care and drug costs and would jeopardize Social Security and Medicare, Vicente Gonzalez is working every day to lower costs for Valley families.”

The scale of the ad buys indicates that Republicans view the message as a major pillar of their electoral strategy. The Cruz campaign said the two ads are part of a $6.7 million ad buy in coordination with the Republican Party of Texas — the biggest ad buy by the campaign so far. For comparison, Cruz announced a $4.4 million investment in Hispanic outreach in July, which featured broadcast advertising, digital outreach, billboards, text messaging and phone banking.

The NRCC’s ad against Gonzalez is the group’s first ad in the state this cycle. Republicans hope to flip the seat, which is among its highest priorities this fall. Former U.S. Rep. Mayra Flores is challenging Gonzalez for the South Texas seat. Their ad is part of an $800,000 ad reservation in the Harlingen market and will be broadcast in both English and Spanish.

Republicans have also poured large amounts of money into attacking Democrats in the state on the border and economy. Both emerged as the biggest issues in the state during the primaries and continue to resonate with voters. But the NRCC found in polling and focus groups that messages linking Gonzalez to access to gender transition surgeries for minors and without parental consent was the top performing to convert support for Flores, the group confirmed.

Polling by the University of Houston’s Hobby School of Public Affairs showed that a majority of Texans responded unfavorably toward allowing transgender people to choose which bathroom to use, participate in women’s sports and receive gender affirming care under 18. But a large majority of Texans — over 70% — support general protections for LGBTQ+ people from discrimination, according to the Public Religion Research Institute.

The strategy is not limited to Texas. U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley released an ad this week featuring Riley Gaines, a competitive swimmer who has advocated against trans women participating in women’s sports.

The NRCC ad features a man accusing Gonzalez of spending his time advocating for youth gender transition instead of on economic issues.

“How is that supposed to help our economy? He says, ‘Vicente con la gente.’ He’s not,” the ad says.

Gonzalez, a moderate Democrat who has voted with Republicans in the past, said in a statement to The Texas Tribune that he “never supported tax dollars paying for gender transition surgeries and never will.”

“If [Flores] wants to talk about things that actually hurt South Texans’ wallets, she should mention how she’s opposed lowering drug costs and healthcare prices — how she supports defunding Social Security and Medicare. Let’s let the record speak for itself,” Gonzalez said.

The ad cites Gonzalez’s support for the Equality Act, which bars gender discrimination in public places, including based on if a person is transgender. The bill passed the House in 2021 with all Democrats voting yes but has stalled in the Senate.

Child gender transition surgery is exceedingly rare, according to a July study by Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Gender affirming care for minors usually manifests in allowing children to dress how they want, changing pronouns and using hormone blockers to delay puberty. The Texas Legislature passed a ban on hormone blockers for minors during last year’s session.

Cruz’s ad also cited Allred’s support for the Equality Act and his vote against the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2023. That bill would cut off federal funds for athletic programs that allow men, “based solely on a person’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth,” to compete in women’s or girls’ sports. The bill passed the House in 2023 with all Republicans supporting and all Democrats against. It also stalled in the Senate.

“Now our girls are being left in the dust, robbed of their right to compete freely. And Colin Allred voted in Congress to oppose Texas state law that protects women’s sports,” the ad said. “Colin Allred voted to allow boys in girls’ bathrooms, boys in girls’ locker rooms, boys in girls’ sports.”

Allred’s campaign blasted the ads as a “disgusting, false attack, and another example of how Ted Cruz only wants to divide Texans.”

Cruz will “say anything to distract from his dangerous abortion ban that is putting women's lives at risk, trying to raise the retirement age for Social Security and Medicare and fleeing to Cancun during a deadly winter storm,” Josh Stewart, an Allred spokesperson, said in a statement.

Allred has been a vocal supporter for LGBTQ+ rights in Congress. He was a co-sponsor of a resolution to create a “Transgender Bill of Rights to protect and codify the rights of transgender and nonbinary people under the law and ensure their access to medical care, shelter, safety, and economic security.”

Disclosure: Equality Texas and University of Houston have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2024/09/18/ted-cruz-republicans-texas-transgender-rights-election-2024/.

The Texas Tribune is a member-supported, nonpartisan newsroom informing and engaging Texans on state politics and policy. Learn more at texastribune.org.