a democrat ran an ad against trans athletes. trump called her the slur again anyway. we could have told her.
Photo: Annie Andrews at a campaign event in Greenville. Stimpus1, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
via The Advocate, the full rally video (LiveNOW from FOX), the Post and Courier, Erin in the Morning and the DCCC
Annie Andrews tried the ad. Three days after Trump first called her an anti-trans slur, the pediatrician running for Senate in South Carolina looked into a camera and said she does not support "biological men" playing women's sports. On Wednesday night, at Clemson's T. Ed Garrison Arena in Pendleton, Trump called her the slur again anyway.
"Darline's running against a radical left lunatic named," he said, and then the word, and then "Annie Andrews." The Advocate reported it, and we listened to the clip to be sure. The automatic captions on the full video skip the word. We are skipping it too.
what else he said about her
A couple of minutes later, per the full speech: "She's a mutilizer. You know what a mutilizer is? That's a person that doesn't do good things." Then: "Annie Andrews should have her medical license revoked. Take it away. And she should not be allowed to run for office." That is the sitting president, at a campaign rally, saying a candidate for the United States Senate should not be allowed to run. For the record, he was there for Sen. Darline Graham, whose late brother is the subject of a documentary that dropped the next morning.
Andrews told SCETV that name-calling would not lower gas or grocery prices, the Advocate reports.
meanwhile, on the coast
The same week, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee started airing its first TV ad in South Carolina's 1st District, for retired Navy admiral Nancy Lacore. Mount Pleasant's Republican mayor, Will Haynie, says she will "lower costs, secure our border, and protect girls' sports." The ad does not explain that last part. Lacore's campaign manager, Kaylie Haberstroh, did: she told the Post and Courier that Lacore does not support trans girls playing in girls' leagues and would potentially support legislation in Congress against it. Erin in the Morning calls it the first known DCCC ad targeting trans people this election.
the note from clemson
Lacore is running against Republican Jenny Honeycutt in a district she is trying to flip, per the Post and Courier. Maybe the line wins her votes. But the party now has a live experiment one state race over, and the result came back Wednesday: Andrews said "biological men" on camera, and she still got the word, still got "mutilizer," and still got told she should not be allowed to run. They call you it either way. The only thing the ad changes is who else gets hurt on the way.
