Vivian Wilson says GOP ‘trans kids boogieman’ ads failed because they ‘talked down’ to voters
Vivian Wilson says GOP ‘trans kids boogieman’ ads ‘talked down’ to voters after estimated $183m spend. (Getty Images)
Vivian Wilson has said the GOP’s “trans kids boogieman” advertising left voters feeling patronised or overlooked, arguing that cost-of-living pressures cut through more than culture-war attacks.
Speaking to The Guardian after the US midterm elections, Wilson said: “With the price of gas what it is alongside a hiring freeze, the only solution offered by the Republican Party was to blind yourself with bigotry and pick a God and pray – except it has to be the Christian one, or else.
“Spending hundreds of millions of dollars on ‘trans kids boogieman’ ads makes voters feel like they’re being talked down to or ignored – which they were – rather than focusing on any actual tangible policy for change.”
Why Wilson says the ads failed
Wilson argued that affordability, not trans fearmongering, was what cost conservatives key races, even after Republicans spent an estimated $183 million on trans ads during the cycle.
She also said that, alongside focusing campaign efforts on trans misinformation, the Republican Party blundered issues she said mattered to younger voters, including ICE raids, the war on Iran and US military support of Israel.
Many media reports have described the results as a “blue tsunami” of historic Democratic wins, with Wilson saying multiple pressures had piled up at once.
“There have been so many nails placed in this coffin that it’s turning into a Theseus’ ship kind of situation.”
What a GLAAD poll found about trans scapegoating
Wilson’s comments echoed findings from a June poll conducted by GLAAD ahead of the midterms. The poll found most people cared more about affordability than attacking transgender people. It also found that 75% would support a candidate who says “we all deserve the freedom to live our lives”, while 65% felt politicians scapegoated trans people as a distraction from other issues.
The Guardian article also cited a Guardian analysis which said Elon Musk spent roughly $500 million to elect Republican candidates and target Democrats such as James Talarico, including nearly $216 million through his America Pac.
Wilson, Musk’s adult daughter, has publicly discussed being transgender and her estrangement from him, and has used her platform to criticise culture-war attacks on trans people.
In September, she similarly warned that trans people were being used as political scapegoats in the run-up to the midterms in comments made while fronting Desigual’s ‘Born to Disobey’ campaign.
