Wisconsin Republicans lean into anti-trans rhetoric in 2026 campaign

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By: Erik Gunn

In the 2024 election, Republican messaging that marginalized transgender Americans and attacked Democrats got widespread attention. Opinion is divided among political analysts about whether anti-trans messaging contributed to Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris’s narrow loss — about 29,000 votes in Wisconsin and about a 1.5% margin nationwide — or was irrelevant. A 2023 Marquette University Law School poll found that a majority of respondents favored protecting trans people against workplace discrimination, but 70% also believed athletes should be required to play sports on teams that match the sex they were assigned at birth.

During the Wisconsin Republican convention in Wisconsin Dells on May 16, speakers attacked the transgender population, particularly youth, sounding the alarm about the possibility of trans girls playing high school sports, mocking the use of inclusive language and promoting the policing of bathrooms.

Republican nominee for governor Tom Tiffany opened his speech by asking the delegates, “Are you ready for a governor that’s going to protect girls’ sports?” Sen. Ron Johnson inveighed against “Biological males competing against our little girls in sports. Biological males invading their locker rooms, their showers, their bathrooms.” He as well as former Gov. Scott Walker falsely claimed that minors identified as transgender can be subjected to surgical procedures.

And a May 19 press release by Republican press secretary Zach Bannon falsely claimed that more than 90 lawmakers were “emphasizing their support of sex-change surgeries for minors” in an open letter to two leading Wisconsin hospital systems.

https://wisconsinexaminer.com/2026/05/29/wisconsin-republicans-lean-into-anti-trans-rhetoric-in-2026-campaign/

[kimbutgar]

1. I just saw this toon on another website and it so typifies how stupid the anti trans narrative is!

I’ve met a few trans people and they were delightful nice people who I didn’t feel threatened by !

[Tetrachloride]

2. this topic was mentioned to me by a moderate Dem

after the 2024 election

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3. I had a friend who is Catholic tell me that she was really worried

about boys being allowed to play in high school girls sports. I could have asked "And how does the issue affect you?" but I wasn't up for it.

[Tetrachloride]

4. in the case of the moderate Dem,

this person believes that Dems made too big a deal about it

moreover, both of us were surprised by the young women and Latin vote turnout and voting patterns