Republicans have spent an estimated $183 million on television ads focused on transgender-related attacks against Democrats in the final phase of the 2026 midterm elections, according to AdImpact tallies provided to The Associated Press. The investment through Oct. 25 produced about 217,000 TV spots nationwide across federal, state and local general-election races, and AdImpact said the spending was concentrated in a small number of races. The spending exceeded the $151 million Republicans spent on similar ads in the 2024 general election, a presidential election year, at the same number of days before that year’s Election Day. Democrats have spent roughly $11 million on transgender-related ads, largely to defend themselves from the attacks.

The Associated Press characterized the spending as a bet that struggling Republican candidates could use a divisive cultural issue to overcome voters’ concerns about President Donald Trump’s leadership and the state of the economy.

Texas’ high-stakes Senate contest alone has consumed the largest share of Republican-backed transgender-related spending, drawing an estimated $58 million for more than 50,000 airings, according to AdImpact. An AP analysis of the data showed Republicans investing heavily in related attacks against Democrats in Ohio, Kansas, South Carolina, Iowa and Mississippi.

Texas PAC, the Republican super PAC largely funded by Elon Musk and supporting Republican Senate candidate Ken Paxton, has at least three separate TV ads hammering Democrat James Talarico on trans issues. One of them echoes a Trump ad from the 2024 campaign, with the narrator saying that Vice President Kamala Harris is for “they, them. President Trump is for you.” The Texas ad accuses Talarico of supporting taxpayer funding of minors’ sex-reassignment surgery, charging that he is “for they them, not you.” Another Texas PAC ad claims Talarico supports taxpayer funding of gender reassignment surgery for minors, while a third accuses him of backing child abuse charges against parents who do not support transitioning their children. “If you care about your children, do not vote for James Talarico,” the narrator says in the spot that has aired nearly 17,000 times at a cost exceeding $23 million.

Talarico has publicly stated that he opposes gender-reassignment surgery for minors. Still, the Texas ads have aired an estimated 50,000 times overall at a cost of $58 million, representing roughly 2 in 10 ads run in the Senate race.

In Ohio, Republican groups led by the Senate Leadership Fund PAC are running multiple trans-themed ads against Democratic Senate candidate Sherrod Brown. In two of the fund’s ads, someone who underwent surgery as a minor and later de-transitioned is featured describing the regret and accusing Brown of supporting such surgeries for minors. Another accuses Brown of supporting “men competing in women’s sports.” Brown’s campaign said the ads were a “total lie” and a distraction from economic issues, while the independent organization PolitiFact rated the fund’s ad false. The Associated Press reported that the attack against Brown twists a 2023 interview in which Brown said a child’s medical decisions belong between families and doctors, not politicians. The Ohio attacks against Brown have cost nearly $26 million.

In South Carolina, which has emerged as an unlikely Senate battleground, Republicans have spent more than $5 million on transgender-themed ads. In the Kansas Senate race, Republican transgender ads have aired 7,000 times at a cost of nearly $7 million.

The Associated Press said the Republican Party’s focus stands in stark contrast to what voters say they care most about this midterm season. Only about 1 in 10 registered voters said transgender issues are “one of the most important issues” in the election, according to an AP-NORC poll from October. The share fell well below the roughly 8 in 10 who mentioned the economy or the cost of living, and also fell short of other issues that have surfaced during the campaign, including healthcare and the war with Iran. Republicans were more likely than independents and Democrats to say transgender issues were highly important to the election, but the issue still fell below other issues.

The AP described the emphasis as a consequential test of whether a theme that had worked in past elections, and especially in states with a strong Republican voting advantage, can still be potent when voters consistently say high prices are their chief concern.

Republican pollster Chris Wilson said, “Republicans clearly believe these issues expose a cultural disconnect between Democratic candidates and a significant portion of the electorate.” He added, “It’s not necessarily that transgender policy is a top voting priority, it’s that voters can use a candidate’s position on it as a proxy for their broader values and judgment.”

The spending campaign matched messaging from other Republicans on the campaign trail, led by Trump, who has played down surging gasoline prices and other rising costs but has highlighted what he described as an urgent threat to America’s children from Democratic policies. Barely five minutes into his speech during Monday night’s rally in Corinth, Mississippi, Trump accused Democrats of promoting what he described as the transgender mutilation of children. During his Sunday rally in Florida, Trump said “men in women’s sports” four times and gender “mutilation” another four times.

Having shifted away from abortion, few cultural issues reflect the Republican Party’s evolution on social issues in the age of Trump more than transgender rights. The Associated Press said that although a tiny number of Americans are directly affected by legislation designed to protect transgender people from discrimination, Republicans have used the issue as a powerful emotional motivator, especially in Republican-leaning states where they need to win to maintain control of Congress.

Wilson said the advertising’s effectiveness remained uncertain. “The interesting question isn’t why Republicans are running these ads, it’s whether they’re still persuading anyone or simply reinforcing attitudes voters already hold,” he said. “Those are two very different things, and $100 million in spending doesn’t tell us which is happening.” He added, “We’ll find that out on Election Day.”

The issue resonates with voters like Jerry Casner, a 74-year-old registered Republican and three-time Trump voter who lives in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. Casner retired from a nearby Army depot and works 12 hours a week at a grocery store in New Cumberland. “Well, I don’t like the way the Democrats operate,” Casner said when asked what national issues were important to him. He explained: “If you can’t even determine the difference between a man and a woman, but yet you’re going to make life and death decisions for me, oh, I don’t think so. That’s disgusting.” Casner said he plans on voting Republican up and down the ballot.

Steve Peoples reported from New York. AP writers Linley Sanders in Washington and Marc Levy in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, contributed.