10/04/2026
Advice for Dems and praise for Sherrod Brown as covered by The New York Times:
The Transgender Freedom Alliance, a research group advising Democratic candidates, has both urged candidates to respond to the attacks and frowned on the idea of Democrats fully embracing Republicans’ positions on the issue. The group says its research has found that the most effective Democratic answer is to argue that Republicans are fixating on transgender issues at the expense of economic ones.
Adrienne Kimmell, who is leading the group’s research, said Democrats did not need to say that “boys should not play in girls’ sports.”
“It’s just not necessary,” Ms. Kimmell said.
She said she favored the approach of former Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio, a Democrat running to return to the chamber, who has run an ad featuring a voter who asks, “With everything going on, that’s what they’re talking about?” Another speaker in the ad points to existing restrictions in Ohio on minors seeking gender transitions, and a third blames Mr. Brown’s opponent for rising grocery prices.
Kelley Robinson, the president of the Human Rights Campaign, a prominent L.G.B.T.Q. advocacy group, praised Mr. Brown’s ad. But in a Substack post last month, she expressed concern about the way many Democrats were handling the issue.
“Turning on a vulnerable community is not a winning political strategy,” Ms. Robinson wrote. Addressing Democrats, she added: “It legitimizes their side and weakens ours. And it harms transgender people.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/04/us/politics/democrats-trans-athletes-midterms.html
