Musk-Backed America PAC Runs Anti-Trans Ads Targeting Democrats in Competitive Senate Midterm Races

Elon Musk-backed America PAC has launched a digital advertising campaign targeting Democratic Senate candidates in Alaska, Ohio, Texas and Iowa, putting transgender-related issues at the centre of its messaging ahead of the November 2026 US midterm elections.

The advertisements, reviewed through Meta and Google's public advertising libraries, include claims that Democratic candidates would 'put our daughters in danger' and support a 'radical trans agenda.'

Those are campaign assertions, not independently established facts. The Human Rights Campaign said the ads began running on 9 September in the four Senate races.

The campaign targets Sherrod Brown in Ohio, Josh Turek in Iowa, Mary Peltola in Alaska and James Talarico in Texas. Current reporting indicates that the adverts focus on transgender participation in sport, gender-affirming care and access to sex-segregated facilities.

America PAC Ads Target Four Senate Candidates

At least 38 adverts identified by The 19th attack the four Democratic candidates. Some claim they would support taxpayer-funded gender-affirming care or allow transgender women to compete in women's sport.

The claims are presented as political attacks by America PAC and should not be treated as established descriptions of the candidates' positions.

The campaign faces a potential complication. The four Democrats do not share identical views on transgender policy, and each has made statements or decisions that differ from the portrayal in the adverts.

Peltola was one of six House Democrats who voted for the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act, a wide-ranging defence measure that contained provisions opposed by LGBTQ+ advocates, including restrictions affecting transgender service members.

Brown responded to similar attacks during the 2024 campaign with an advert saying he had not voted to 'let transgender biological men participate in women's sports.' Independent fact-checkers later found that Republican claims about Brown's Senate votes on transgender athletes were false or misleading.

Turek said in July, 'As someone that spent a lot of my life in high-level sports, I don't believe that biological males should compete against females in sports.'

Talarico has said he opposes gender-affirming care for minors. On 9 September, he also said, 'I oppose trans athletes playing in girls' sports if it endangers safety or fairness.'

Those statements do not establish the broader claims made in America PAC's adverts. They do show, however, that the campaign is presenting a complicated set of positions in stark terms.

It was reported in July that Musk planned to spend more than $100 million (£75 million) through America PAC during the midterm elections. It was later reported that the group had a $50 million (£37.5 million) fund and a goal of reaching $120 million (£90 million), illustrating the uncertainty around the eventual total.

Questions Over AI in America PAC Ads

The campaign has also drawn scrutiny over imagery used in some advertisements. The 19th reported that two ads featured people presented as transgender women, but could not establish whether the images showed actors or AI-generated composites.

After The 19th asked Google whether the advertisements complied with its rules requiring disclosure of synthetic or digitally altered content in political advertising, the two ads were temporarily removed. Two additional adverts were also taken down before the advertisements were later reinstated, according to the report.

The outlet did not establish that the images were AI-generated. The available reporting raises questions about the imagery, but does not prove that America PAC used generative AI to create it.

Google says political advertisers must complete its election-ad verification process and disclose synthetic or digitally altered content in election advertisements. Political adverts must also include 'paid for by' disclosures and appear in Google's Political Advertising Transparency Report.

Ramiro Sarmiento, national press secretary for the Human Rights Campaign, described the spending as an attempt to use LGBTQ+ people as a political distraction.

'Elon Musk is scapegoating LGBTQ+ Americans to distract voters from the cuts he made and the chaos he has caused,' Sarmiento said. 'Trans people aren't the reason cancer research has stalled, rural hospitals have closed, or food recalls are everywhere, that's all because of Elon's cuts.'

The Human Rights Campaign also cited post-election research conducted with GQR after the 2024 election. It said 64% of respondents recalled seeing an anti-transgender advert, while 4% said opposition to transgender healthcare or sports participation motivated their vote.

Those figures are survey findings from HRC and GQR, not an independent measurement of the adverts' effectiveness.

The advertisements arrive as Republicans seek to make transgender policy a more prominent issue in competitive races. Whether that strategy changes the choices of voters focused on the economy, immigration or other concerns will be tested across the four states in November.