Transphobic ad gets Vicky Hartzler in the mix. But is the GOP actually for anything?
Missouri Rep. Vicky Hartzler, who is running for the U.S. Senate, is out with a new campaign ad.
On inflation? Farm subsidies? Taxes? Democracy?
OK, that last one was a joke, but so is the GOP’s relentless focus on culture war issues.
According to Hartzler and her rivals in the GOP primary, the issues that matter are keeping “critical race theory” out of schools where it’s already not being taught, keeping immigrants we desperately need from entering the country, and keeping a transgender athlete in a far-away state from competing.
These are issues that have little to no bearing on the lives of most Missourians. But in focusing on them, candidates do get to one-up one another in heartlessness.
Hartzler’s new spot targets a transgender swimmer in Pennsylvania named Lia Thomas.
“I won’t look away while woke liberals destroy women’s sports,” the congresswoman says in the commercial. “Women’s sports are for women, not men pretending to be women.”
LGBTQ advocacy groups have called the ad transphobic and a cheap shot, and it is certainly those things. It will add to the anguish of young Missourians struggling with gender identity.
If Hartzler were really worried about sports for women and girls, she’d focus her ad on inadequate facilities, poorly paid coaches, and discrimination on and off the field, not the occasional trans athlete.
But Hartzler really just wants to make people mad. And if she really thinks someone would change genders to win a race, maybe that’s because she and her competitors are so willing to become different people to compete.
Naturally, she’s been endorsed by Sen. Josh Hawley.
We once hoped Missourians would be spared this mind-numbing stupidity during the 2022 campaign. But instead, Republicans in our state are falling over one another trying to be the meanest, most offensive, least relevant Senate candidates in memory.
Attorney General Eric Schmitt travels to the Mexico border to address Missouri’s nonexistent immigration crisis and files costly lawsuits aimed at blocking reasonable health regulations.
“You can’t sleep when you’re protecting freedom,” he says. We think most Missourians would prefer Schmitt get the rest he clearly needs.
Eric Greitens? The disgraced former governor leads the race in some opinion polls. Is it because he’s claimed nonexistent voter fraud in other states? Because he wears a handgun during campaign appearances? Does a gun on the hip have anything to do with a mom who can’t afford medicine for her son or daughter? No.
Mark McCloskey, another GOP candidate, has been disciplined by the Missouri Supreme Court. Rep. Billy Long ran an ad so inaccurate YouTube took it down.
To date, the Republican Senate primary has been an ugly race to the bottom, with no improvement in sight.
The state, and the nation, face enormous issues. Deficits, entitlements, tax rates for the wealthy, inflation, child care are all on the table.
Kids are still hungry. People are still dying from COVID-19. There may soon be a shooting war in Eastern Europe. Voters are worried about things that affect their lives, not a college swim meet.