a republican attacked this iowa democrat over "sex changes" in june. now he's running on the same two words. sir.
The Iowa State Capitol in Des Moines, for illustration. Photo: Thesavagenorwegian, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
via Erin in the Morning and PolitiFact, and the ad itself, as posted by AdImpact
In June, Republican Ashley Hinson ran an ad saying Josh Turek, her Democratic opponent in Iowa's Senate race, supports "sex changes for kids." PolitiFact rated it False: the vote she cited was a 2023 school notification law about names and pronouns, which never mentions medical care, and Turek's campaign told PolitiFact he opposes gender-affirming surgery for minors.
Four months later, Turek has bought the phrase.
what the ad says
The 30-second spot went up on Saturday, Oct. 24. It opens on bullying, then turns: "As a kid in a wheelchair, I faced my share of bullying. It's why I believe that no Iowan should face discrimination. As a Paralympian, I also know it's important to have rules. It's why I oppose males competing in female sports, something that is already illegal in Iowa. I'm against taxpayers paying for sex changes too. Anyone tells you any different is lying."
It ends on "It's time to stop the nonsense from both extremes," over a montage of lawmakers at hearings. Erin Reed of Erin in the Morning identified one of them as Rep. Becca Balint, the first woman and first openly gay person to represent Vermont in Congress. So the "extreme" gets a lesbian's face.
the part that is new
A sports line from a red-state Democrat is, sadly, a genre now. We have covered Marcy Kaptur's and Annie Andrews'. The second sentence is the one that goes further. Reed reads "taxpayers paying for sex changes" as a federal funding ban on gender-affirming care, a trans version of the Hyde Amendment, which she says would reach Medicaid, Medicare, VA care and subsidized ACA plans, adults included. The ad does not say "kids." It does not say "minors." It says taxpayers.
That is the vocabulary of the ad PolitiFact debunked, now coming from the man it was aimed at. A day later, Nicki Minaj used the same two words at a Trump rally in Michigan. Same phrase, two parties, one weekend.
Turek faces Hinson on Nov. 3.
the internet reacts
the strategy debate lasted about a day.
Kimiya @OnlySkyKimiYou can debate strategy until the sun comes up, but my read is that Josh Turek is just a genuine transphobe. The ad goes much farther than what would be necessary if he were acting only on strategy.1,371 likes
