AUSTIN, Texas — Democrats are doubling down on their fight to convince Americans that their transgender policies should return.

The plan is to hammer home stories of transgender teens suffering discrimination and humiliation, gaining sympathy from voters and making a liability out of the expected onslaught of GOP ads attacking Democrats’ transgender policies.

One DNC member described it as a “sling-shot” moment.

The party laid out the strategy in an LGBTQ caucus meeting at the Democratic National Committee’s summer meeting in Austin.

“Anti-trans attacks are going to be used in this election at the largest scale we have ever seen them used before, and we have to be ready and prepared for that,” Sam Alleman, a veteran strategist with the gay-rights group Human Rights Campaign, said at the caucus meeting.

“It’s now our turn to show up for the trans community and continue doing that work and driving narrative work,” he said.

HRC plans to spend $15 million in this year’s midterms to sway voters in favor of transgender rights and the Democratic candidates who support transgender rights. It is his organization’s goal to make transgender people more visible over the next 10 years, showing American voters that transgender people are their friends and neighbors.

“And we really believe that in terms of shifting opinion on these issues when it comes to sports, healthcare — where it might be tough — the way we do it is by sharing our stories and not backing down and making ourselves more visible,” Mr. Alleman said.

The spending also targets get-out-the-vote on pro-transgender voters. “We have a model, as I pointed out, that targets 74 million folks that we know vote based off our issue set,” Mr. Alleman said.

Republicans have been hitting the transgender issue since at least the 2024 presidential race. That’s when the Trump campaign hit Vice President Kamala Harris with a devastating ad campaign: “Kamala is for they/them, President Trump is for you.”

This campaign season, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is out with an AI ad in his run for U.S. Senate against Democrat state Rep. James Talarico.

The ad is a takeoff on the famous “Daisy” ad from President Lyndon Johnson’s 1964 campaign.

It opens on a black-and-white shot. A young girl with long blonde hair on an operating table as she’s being prepared for sex reassignment surgery.

In the background, the ad’s voice-over says, “She dreams of growing up, falling in love, becoming a mother.”

The girl counts as she’s picking the petals off a daisy in a field. “One, two, three, four, five, six.” A doctor’s voice says, “Keep counting.”

Then a gas mask is placed on her face as the doctor’s surgical mask drops from his face to reveal it’s Mr. Talarico.

The voice-over says, “The transient brain plays on confused children, irreversible puberty blockers, cross sex hormones, sex change surgeries.”

Democrats said such attack ads will backfire on Republicans as Americans increasingly embrace transgender rights, the same way Democrats brought voters to their side on gay marriage.

It won’t be an easy battle for LGBTQ advocates.

Various polls show most Americans are against male-born athletes competing in female sports, with voters saying doctors should not perform transgender surgery on minors, and that transgender people should use bathrooms assigned to their biological sex.

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