Democratic candidate Sarah Trone Garriott of Iowa’s third congressional district isn’t just selling out transgender people this election cycle—she’s fomenting hate. She uses inflammatory rhetoric that stokes right-wing fantasies and paints trans girls as sexual predators infiltrating women’s spaces. And none of it is stopping the anti-trans attacks on her campaign from the right.
“I oppose letting men in women’s locker rooms,” said Trone Garriott in an ad released by her campaign last month. She continued to say that “politicians have become too extreme on these issues.”
Perhaps she thought this capitulation to anti-trans hysteria would spare her some of the vitriol from conservative propagandists. Perhaps her campaign conducted a few focus groups and determined that transgender children are a sacrifice they’re willing to make. In either case, true to form, the anti-trans craze proved once again that it comes for all women, eventually. Trone Garriott’s decision to align herself with hate did not save her.
Trone Garriott is a state senator and minister representing Iowa’s 14th district, including the area around Des Moines. A member of the Democratic Party, she previously served as the state’s Senate minority whip.
This week, the Congressional Leadership Fund—a notoriously bigoted and underhanded right-wing PAC—launched an attack ad against Trone Garriott using footage from the very same commercial meant to satiate anti-trans bloodlust.
As the attack ad points out, Trone Garriott knows the risk of deploying this kind of language about “men” in women’s bathrooms to describe trans women and girls. At an event in 2023, Trone Garriott told constituents:
“The Senate passed a bathroom bill this week about school bathrooms that encourages anyone in our state to file a complaint and the Attorney General needs to investigate [sic]. Schools have been navigating these challenging situations for a while, making the best choices for their local circumstances and making it work. This takes that away from them and creates an incentive for folks to be watching and informing on their neighbors. I don’t think that’s a good way for Iowa to proceed. It’s creating a really hostile environment for a lot of folks. We need to be aware that discrimination is wrong.”
In bending the knee to right-wing fanatics, Trone Garriott has demonstrated a disturbing willingness to throw trans kids under the bus. It’s unclear who she could deem permissible collateral next.
She’s not the only Democratic politician taking this gamble. Rob Sand, who is currently Iowa’s state auditor and running for Governor, ranted in a recent interview about “fairness” in women’s sports and showed his support for anti-trans policies. In July, Ohio’s Democratic gubernatorial candidate, Amy Acton, called trans girls “boys” and endorsed similar restrictions on transgender athletes. Those races are ongoing.
Meanwhile, Congressman Seth Moulton, an early Democratic defector on trans issues, lost his race this week by leaps and bounds to Sen. Ed Markey, a staunch trans ally.
Despite Trone Garriott’s anti-trans ad, she still enjoys an endorsement from the Human Rights Campaign, although that was issued in June—ostensibly before her heel turn.
Erin in the Morning has reached out to the Trone Garriott campaign and the Human Rights Campaign for comment.
I'll keep saying it: why would transphobes vote for the milquetoast democrat trans hate when they can vote for unadulterated republican trans hate?
All these Dems have to lose to make sure the party stays on track defending civil rights for all of us.