Scoop: Senate Democrats caught flat-footed by GOP anti-trans attacks
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Outgoing Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer heard a consistent, urgent alarm this week from Democrats who felt ambushed by GOP attacks on transgender people participating in women's sports, Axios has learned.
Why it matters: The losses of Sens. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) leave Democrats without a single member representing a truly red state.
- In two private postmortem meetings convened by Schumer, Democrats said the party was caught flat-footed by the attacks, even as many campaigns aired ads pushing back.
- The GOP spent over $77 million on ads about transgender issues in U.S. Senate races in 10 states dating back to July, as we reported last month from AdImpact data.
In Ohio alone, a super PAC linked to outgoing Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell spent over $32 million on anti-trans ads.
- One ad targeting Brown said he voted for "allowing trans biological men in girls' locker rooms" and "sex change surgery for kids."
- An ad from the Brown campaign called the GOP attacks a "complete lie" and asked voters to "reject the lies."
Gender-affirming care is backed as medically necessary for some people by leading health groups. That care rarely involves surgery for minors, even for older teens.
- Half of U.S. states have passed laws banning trans students from playing in sports consistent with their gender identity, including Montana and Ohio, though some are facing court challenges.
Zoom in: Battleground Democrats who both won and lost spoke in the internal Democratic meetings this week.
- In addition to Brown and Tester, speakers included Sens. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) and Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.).
Sources briefed on the meetings described them as "listening sessions" for Schumer and the rest of the Democratic caucus to hear about what went wrong — and right — on the campaign trail.
- Senate Democrats also discussed the impact the economy, specifically inflation, had on the campaigns, and how Dems message around it.
The bottom line: Several Democratic incumbents told their colleagues the support from the campaign arm of Senate Democrats and Schumer himself was the best they had received in any election year.
- 📞 Schumer has talked privately to every caucus member since the election.
- Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.), a top ally of President Biden, told Axios that "Schumer raised a stunning amount of money."
