News (USA)

New GOP ad claims lesbian candidate will close military bases to fund trans “reassignment surgeries”

Gina Ortiz Jones
Gina Ortiz Jones Photo: Gina Ortiz Jones Campaign

The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), a PAC dedicated to electing members of the GOP to the House of Representatives, is running a new attack ad against Democrat Gina Ortiz Jones in Texas.

The ad claims that Ortiz Jones wants to close military bases across the state to fund surgery for transgender members of the military.

Related: Voting deadlines, registration & what’s at stake for LGBTQ voters in 2020

The spot follows up on a previous ad that also attacked her for opposing Donald Trump’s arbitrary ban on transgender military members.

Both pieces only refer to her as “Gina Jones,” possibly because Republicans believe that using her full name would show too much respect for the Filipino American candidate in the heavily Hispanic district. If the GOP loses the race, they will not control any seats along the US-Mexico border.

In the first ad, the NRCC cites the San Antonio Express-News as the source for their claim that Ortiz Jones will “divert military money for transgender reassignment surgeries,” but staff at the newspaper confirmed to LGBTQ Nation that the article entitled “Hurd draws a Democratic rival for Dist. 23” does not mention transgender people or any kind of military policy.

The NRCC has also used a photo of Ortiz Jones with her partner, describing her as a “girlfriend” using quote marks.

If elected, Ortiz Jones would be the first out person elected to Congress from the Lone Star State.

“I would be honored to be the first,” she told LGBTQ Nation. “It’s more important I’m not the last.”

In South Carolina, State Rep. Nancy Mace (R) is airing a similar ad that accuses her Democratic opponent in a U.S. House of passing a bill “requiring transgendered [sic] equality in the military” that will, according to the ad, close a local military base.

No such law has been passed.

Republicans have launched an anti-gay smear campaign again Democrat Jon Hoadley in his race for a Michigan congressional seat.

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