Mike Pence Joins the Transphobe Primary

The former Vice President is buying ads in Iowa promoting anti-trans hysteria as he mulls a presidential run, joining Ron DeSantis and Donald Trump in a shadow primary to establish their transphobic bona-fides.

by Evan Urquhart

If there was any doubt after Donald Trump’s announcement of a slate of extreme policy proposals targeting trans people last week, there’s now even more evidence the Republican primary for the 2024 election will center transphobic attacks. Mike Pence, who has yet to officially announce whether he’ll seek the presidency, has created a “grassroots” group to stoke fears over children who come out as trans at school without their parents knowing.

According to the Hill, Pence’s advocacy group is planning a series of ads, rallies, and events attacking schools that fail to immediately inform parents when their child uses a nickname at school.

screenshot from the Hill

In addition to Trump and Pence, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has also made attacks on trans people core to his political identity, and is also believed highly like to run for president in 2024. Nicki Haley, who has announced her intention to seek the nomination, has also recently spoken against trans women in sports, and in the past identified the continued existence of trans people as one reason why she wanted to run at all. In all, it’s shaping up to be an extremely transphobia-focused primary, with all the candidates competing to impress GOP primary voters with how extreme their transphobia is, which is extremely bad!