In Reply to: Attack ad on Sherrod Brown during Ohio St. FB game posted by UCLART on September 12, 2026 at 19:01:43
You can pretty clearly see that the messaging they are pushing is that Democrats want to force children to undergo gender-transition procedures, or that Democrats are communists. Paxton, in particular, seems very focused on the idea that Democrats will “transition your kids.”
To me, that suggests their internal polling may be showing that they are having difficulty motivating their base to turn out.
What is interesting is how different this is from the messaging Republicans used during Trump’s election campaign. Then, the argument was more along the lines of, “She’s focused on they/them, but Trump is focused on you.” That message was broader and seemed more designed to appeal to independents by portraying Democrats as being too focused on special interests and cultural issues.
The fact that Paxton and other GOP Senate candidates have moved so heavily toward the “Democrats will force your child to transition” message is notable. It indicates the GOP base is not yet secured.