Remember the good ol’ days when political attack ads discussed real issues facing potential constituents?
Based on the current state of Republican campaigning, those days are long behind us.
Three of the top GOP candidates for West Virginia governor have been running almost exclusively anti-transgender ads for well over a month. Patrick Morrisey and Chris Miller — and their not-technically-associated PACs — have been trading televised blows trying to paint each other as pro-transgender and themselves as anti-transgender; then Moore Capito put himself in the fight with an ad touting “his” trans-athlete ban that recently took a hit in the courts. (Black Bear PAC is a pro-Morrisey group managed by a conservative political consulting firm in Massachusetts, and West Virginia Forward is a pro-Miller PAC managed by Miller’s father.)
Considering all the air time these anti-trans ads have been taking up, you would think transgender kids are the single greatest threat to West Virginians’ health, security and prosperity.
In reality, in 2022, there were 700 kids between ages 13 and 17 who identified as transgender. That is 0.68% of all West Virginians 13-17 years old. Statewide, there are only 5,700 adults (ages 18+) who identify as trans, or 0.4% of the state’s adult population. This is an infinitesimal amount of our populace, yet these three gubernatorial candidates have based their campaigns on punching down at this minority. Specifically, going after literal children.
Does anyone know what their stances are on issues that actually impact West Virginians?
What will they do to expand access to affordable health care, child care or healthy food? West Virginia is a notorious desert for all the above, with some communities lacking access, let alone affordable access, to any of those three things.
What will they do to address consistently terrible road conditions?
How will they guide the state up the education rankings? How will the state attract and retain educators and other school personnel?
Where do they stand on tax cuts and flat budgets?
How will they attract new business to diversify West Virginia’s economy?
If all you saw from these candidates were their commercials, you wouldn’t know the answer to those questions. And really, none have gone out of their way to make their positions known. If you dig through their campaign sites, you can find a lot of buzzwords, but you’d be hard-pressed to find concrete plans for bettering West Virginia.
With these anti-trans ads, Morrisey, Miller and Capito are competing to show voters who can be the biggest bully. And maybe that will work for the primary.
But they forget that if any of them get elected governor (Mac Warner is also on the ballot, and Steve Williams has a straight shot to the general election), they still have to represent those transgender people — and thousands of other LGBTQ+ individuals and allies. Governors are beholden to the entire state, not just a political party’s base, and none of these candidates have shown they are capable of representing the interests of all West Virginians.
