Originally published by The 19th
Republicans vying for governor of West Virginia are trying to outdo each other in how much they want to restrict LGBTQ+ rights, with transgender people particularly targeted.
Ahead of the state’s May 14 primary, the two candidates leading the GOP field are Patrick Morrisey, the current attorney general, and Moore Capito, who resigned from the West Virginia House of Delegates slow last year to pursue his candidacy concentrate is the top executive of the state.
Youngest independent survey shows Morrisey and Capito neck and neck, with Chris Miller, the owner of a car dealership chain, a distant third, followed by Mac Warner, the current Secretary of State.
All four candidates — all white, cisgender and straight men — are ardent supporters of former Republican President Donald Trump, who won the state by more than 38 points in 2020 and remains widely popular. With little lithe between guns (they love them) and immigration (securing the U.S.-Mexico border some 1,500 miles away is often cited as one of Democratic President Joe Biden’s biggest failures), there has been little lithe in recent weeks of the gubernatorial contest a series of events from commercials about who will be the most transphobic governor.
The ads accused rivals of supporting LGBTQ+ people as private citizens and criticized the records of those who held elected office for not doing enough to limit LGBTQ+ rights. A particularly harsh ad supporting Morrisey and suggesting that being LGBTQ+ is a slur.
At least 589 anti-trans bills were considered by lawmakers at various levels of state and federal government last year, according to an analysis of the law Trans Legislation TrackerThis represents what the group called “an escalation against transgender people at both the state and national levels.” Most of the bills were in deep red states. Wyoming attempted to make gender-sensitive care of minors a form of child abuse; Oklahoma considered banning gender-affirming care until age 26.
A survey conducted last year by Survey Monkey for The 19th showed that only 17 percent of Americans — and only 29 percent of Republicans — believe politicians should focus on restricting access to gender-inclusive care. GOP politicians in West Virginia and elsewhere – including in the republican presidential primary — have nevertheless made promoting anti-trans policies the focus of their campaigns, seeing it as a way to convey their political identity to the most vehemently anti-LGBTQ+ portion of the Republican base.
An analysis A study conducted in early April by AdImpact Politics, which tracks political advertising, in the West Virginia governor’s race found that nearly $14 million was spent on ads related to the GOP candidates and that the most cited The topic was support for Trump. Morrisey was a leader in advertising support, spending about $7.3 million to boost his chances through his campaign or other groups. Miller, the son of Republican U.S. Rep. Carol Miller, was next with about $3.6 million. Capito, the son of Republican U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito, rounded out the top group with around $1.5 million Analysis showed.
The second most-mentioned issue after Trump was LGBTQ+ rights — particularly ads that touted candidates’ attempts to restrict them or made accusations that their opponents had done too little.
As attorney general, Morrisey often sought to limit the ability of LGBTQ+ people to fully participate in public life through litigation. In 2019, when the case Bostock v. Clayton County reached the U.S. Supreme Court, Morrisey filed a court brief Support the Trump Administration’s position that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 does not protect workers from discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. The Supreme Court disagreed in a 6-3 ruling. Just in the last few weeks, Morrisey has done it committed to appeal to the Supreme Court Judge about it allowed a transgender girl to compete Member of her middle school’s sports teams and one that determined the state’s Medicaid health insurance program had to pay for gender-affirming surgeries. (Some treatments are covered and not subject to litigation.)
A Current ad from Black Bear PAC, which supports Morrisey’s candidacy, accused Miller that when he was on the board of a state university, he “looked the other way when pro-transgender events took place under his watch.” It shows a man in women’s clothing, makeup and a blonde wig. The captions are framed in rainbow colors related to the Pride flag. “Chris Miller protected her/them, not us,” the narrator says.
A Advertisement from Miller’s campaignThe episode features a high school student who says that when she went into the locker room to change for dance practice, “there was a boy in there, he’s trans, he went in there every day and just looked.” “There was a politician who claimed to have our back for a minute,” the girl’s mother said, referring to Morrisey. “He is not a strong man, we need a strong man with a strong voice and he is not that.”
Like his mother, Capito has at times taken positions supporting LGBTQ+ rights. In 2019, for example, he supported a bill that would ban conversion therapy for LGBTQ+ minors – attempts to change a person’s sexual orientation through a process that is not supported by science or major medical associations. But he also praised his anti-trans experience in advertisements. In one CurrentCapito reminds voters that he “wrote the bill banning puberty blockers for children while Morrisey got rich lobbying for the puberty blocker companies.” Morrisey’s previous work for private sector clients including some from the pharmaceutical and healthcare sectors.
The anti-trans focus of the three leading GOP gubernatorial candidates led to one Rebuke last week from the editorial board of the Dominion Post, the daily newspaper in Morgantown, home of West Virginia University and the state’s third-largest city. “Three of the top GOP candidates for West Virginia governor have been running almost exclusively anti-transgender ads for well over a month,” the editorial said, noting that just 0.4 percent of the adult population of the state identify as transgender. “This is a tiny portion of our population, and yet these three gubernatorial candidates have built their campaigns on targeting this minority. In particular, it involves persecuting literal children.”
The 19th’s questions about Capito and Miller’s campaigns were not answered. Morrisey’s campaign provided a statement that read: “Morrisey has consistently advocated for women and girls to have access to women’s-only sports and spaces.” Morrisey has never worked to advance any type of policy that affects transgender people in his life -Ideology promotes. Morrisey will continue to be the champion for women if elected governor.”
All showed a reluctance to talk to the news media about their candidacies. Of the four applicants, for example only Warner took part in a candidate forum with the Mountain State Spotlight – Morissey, Understood And Müller did not attend an interview or respond to the nonprofit news organization’s candidate questionnaire.
In a recent poll of Republican voters in West VirginiaMore than half said the economy was the state’s most essential issue, followed by the quality of education, health care, immigration and energy and coal issues. The Dominion Post editorial complained that these issues received very little attention in the Republican gubernatorial primary because candidates focused on being the most anti-transsexual.
A Republican has a powerful chance of winning the governor’s race in the general election. The only Democrat in the race is Steve Williams, the mayor of Huntington, the state’s second-largest city. Early voting is already underway and ends May 11th.
