GOP candidate loses in Kentucky after millions spent on anti-transgender ads

Despite an outside organization spending millions of dollars on ads attacking transgender people to support GOP candidate and state Attorney General Daniel Cameron, incumbent Gov. Andy Beshear (D) is projected as the winner in the Kentucky gubernatorial race with 90% of precincts reporting.

“We have been through a lot together,” Beshear told supporters late last night after the race was called. “Devastating tornadoes in the west, historic flooding in the east and after each I made a promise, a promise that I would help rebuild every home and every life. And thanks to the people of Kentucky and thanks to this election, we’re going to see that promise through.”

Related:

The internet thinks the star of an anti-LGBTQ group’s new ad is a gay man

Lauren Boebert and Tom Cotton insist he’s being “censored.”

Transgender rights became a major campaign issue this past year in the state. One of the ads funded by the American Principles Project PAC (APP-PAC) said that Beshear would send the FBI to take trans kids away from their parents if their parents didn’t accept their identities, which was not a part of Beshear’s platform.

Insights for the LGBTQ+ community

Subscribe to our briefing for insights into how politics impacts the LGBTQ+ community and more.

Daily

Weekly

Good News

Another ad showed a drag queen and accused Beshear of pushing “child sex changes with permanent consequences.” The ad was removed from YouTube under the platform’s hate speech policy.

In several other ads featuring former University of Kentucky swimmer and anti-trans activist Riley Gaines, APP-PAC attacked Beshear for vetoing a bill to ban trans kids from participating in school sports. The Republican legislature ultimately overturned his veto.

In the ad, Gaines complained about tying with trans University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas for fifth place in a competition, a moment Gaines described as “heartbreaking and somber.” She has used her story for the past two years in political ads and speeches as she decries trans equality.

In the ad, Gaines also said that Beshear wasn’t a “real man” while calling Thomas a “male” and misgendering her.

On X, Terry Schilling of APP-PAC said that the group spent $2 million on the anti-trans ads in Kentucky.

The Lexington Herald-Ledger reports that Schilling’s group ran similar ads against Beshear in 2019 when he was first elected.

Schilling got national attention in 2020 when he told Politico that he hoped to make opposition to transgender rights a wedge issue to support Republican candidates. His group paid for anti-trans ads supporting Trump’s campaign. Trump ultimately lost the election by about seven million votes.

“What I’m hoping is that once we release these ads and numbers start to move, the Trump campaign will see it’s a powerful issue that the Republican Party can use to its success,” Schilling said at the time.