Republican opponent attacks out Sen. Tammy Baldwin by lying about her support of gender-affirming care

Out U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin’s Republican challenger and a GOP super PAC are attacking her on the issue of gender-affirming care, falsely claiming she supports “sex change surgeries” for minors.

Eric Hovde is running against Baldwin, a Wisconsin Democrat who was the first out LGBTQ+ U.S. senator. She is a lesbian.

A recent ad from the Senate Leadership Fund, a Republican super PAC, claimed that “Baldwin supported providing puberty blockers and sex change surgeries to minor children,” The Guardian reports.

It’s true that she supports gender-affirming care for transgender youth, but this consists of puberty blockers and other hormonal treatment, not genital surgeries, which are not recommended for minors and certainly not being performed in Wisconsin. And such care is undertaken only with parental consent.

The ad is likely based on a social media post by Baldwin praising Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers, a fellow Democrat, for vetoing a bill last year that would have banned gender-affirming care for trans minors. He made a veto promise in October and followed through in December. “Trans kids deserve to feel safe and welcome in Wisconsin, not discriminated against,” she wrote in October 2023. “They deserve the freedom to just be kids, play sports, and get the health care they need, all without politicians butting in. Thanks for standing up for LGBTQ+ kids, @GovEvers.” This year, he vetoed a bill that would have barred trans youth from competing in school sports under their gender identity.

Hovde’s campaign ran an ad alleging that Baldwin “ensured hundreds of thousands of our tax dollars went to a Madison nonprofit that pushes an aggressive LGBTQ agenda on kids.” And in September on The Vicki McKenna Show, a right-wing radio talk show, he claimed that she “gave our taxpayer money to a transgender clinic, affirming clinic — which is their buzzword — that does it without even telling parents.” He later contended that the organization in question, Briarpatch Youth Services, would “alter children, mutilate them surgically, or put them on drugs that can have a permanent impact on their quality of life,” according to PolitiFact.

“Taken together, this all connotes an element of gender-affirming medical care that Briarpatch does not provide,” PoliitiFact reports. “Not only does his phrase ‘transgender clinic’ misconstrue the organization’s overall mission, law prohibits Wisconsin minors from getting medical treatment without a parent or guardian’s signature.”

Briarpatch, through its Teens Like Us program, does provide chest binders and other gender-affirming clothing to trans youth, and parental permission is not required. However, none of the money Baldwin earmarked for Briarpatch goes to Teens Like Us, and indeed, as the funding comes from the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration, it’s prohibited from going to this program. Instead, the money is supporting “counseling for youth experiencing homelessness and other hardships,” a Baldwin spokesperson confirmed to PolitiFact.

The Republican ads are “a pretty desperate and disgusting attack that is mainly designed to detract from Eric Hovde’s record and unpopularity with the people of Wisconsin,” Arik Wolk, the Wisconsin Democratic Party’s rapid response director, told The Guardian.

Wolk added that a Hovde ad saying Baldwin “in bed with Wall Street” because her partner, Maria Brisbane, is a financial adviser, is an example of the campaign trying to use Baldwin’s lesbian identity against her. But “Wisconsinites have made it clear that they support Tammy Baldwin, regardless of her sexual identity,” he said.

Nevertheless, she appears vulnerable in the Senate race. She once had a large lead over Hovde, but the Cook Political Report now rates the race as a toss-up, and polls show it is close. It’s one of the races that could determine whether Democrats retain control of the Senate.