"Kamala is for they/them, President Trump is for you" were a series ofpolitical advertisements commissioned by then-Republican Party nomineeDonald Trump's campaign to attackKamala Harris during the2024 United States presidential election.[1][2] The ads feature excerpts from an interview that Harris gave toNational Center for Transgender Equality Action Fund'sMara Keisling, where Harris supported tax-fundedgender-affirming surgery for prisoners.[2] Each ad'skicker was "Kamala is forthey/them, President Trump is for you."[3]
The ads had several different variations, with the most notable featuring convictedfirst-degree murderer Rodney Quine - the first inmate to receive taxpayer-fundedgender reassignment surgery under a program run by California in 2017, while Harris was the state's attorney general.[4][2]
The Trump campaign put the ads in heavy rotation, airing more than 30,000 times in everyswing state, and during televisedNFL andcollege football games andNASCAR Xfinity Series races.[5][6] According to an analysis byFuture Forward, theKamala Harris campaign's mainSuper PAC, "Kamala is for they/them" was one of Trump's most effective 30-secondattack ads, shifting the race 2.7 percentage points in favor of Trump after viewers watched it.[7] Conversely, anRCT study by Ground Media released byGLAAD, an LGBTQ media monitoring organization, stated that the ad did not have a statistically significant impact on who viewers intended to vote for.[8][9]
During Harris's2020 Democratic Party presidential primary run, Harris expressed the importance oftrans rights. Harris discussed her history with trans rights with Keisling, stating, "I can't remember a time where they have not been important to me. When I was district attorney of San Francisco, I started ... assistance program for members of the trans community."[10] The murder ofGwen Araujo led to Harris organizing a training session to help prosecutors defeat the trans panic orgay panic defense.[10]
The impetus for Harris's support for tax-funded transitions stems from the 2015 settlement between the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and Shiloh Quine.[10][11] Harris stated: "I worked behind the scenes to (...) make sure that transgender woman got the services she was deserving..." Quine had been behind bars since 1981, convicted of first-degree murder, kidnapping and robbery for ransom for the kidnap and murder of 33-year-old Shahid Ali Baig.[12]
Harris pushed for further change within the California prison system, noting that she "...made sure they changed the policy in the state of California, so every transgender inmate in the prison system would have access to the medical care that they desired and needed..." Harris stated she felt strongly about the issue, saying, "... it's a civil rights issue, it's a justice issue, and it's an issue of humanity."[10]
Trump had previously voiced his opposition totransgender women competing in women's sports andgender-affirming services for minors.[13] His conservative allies stated that the issues can swayundecided voters, saying "Democrats had grown increasingly uneasy defending their support of pro-transgender policies around athletics and children."[13] Conversely, Democrats largely avoided discussing transgender issues during the election campaign period.[14][15][16]
According to aCBS News report, the Trump campaign paid $19 million to air the ad nearly 55,000 times between October 1 and 16, 2024.[17] The ads, which had several different variations, aired more than 30,000 times in everyswing state.[2] The Trump campaign put the ads in heavy rotation during televisedNFL andcollege football games.[5][6]
According to an analysis by the Democraticsuper PACFuture Forward, "Kamala is for they/them" was one of Trump's most effective 30-second campaign ads, shifting the race 2.7 percentage points in favor of Trump after viewers watched it.[7] According to polling by the Trump campaign, the commercial resonated withsuburban women. This demographic had been a key factor inJoe Biden's2020 victory over Trump.[18]
A different study, done by Ground Media and released byGLAAD, showed the ad failed to change viewer's voting preference. However, the study also showed that public acceptance of trans people decreased by around 3-4 percentage points among those who watched the ad.[8][9] In the aftermath of the election, Keisling toldSemafor that the ads had negative ramifications for transgender people, especially for trans children and their families.[19]
Democrats did not formally respond to the ads containing the slogan during the campaign period. Former PresidentBill Clinton privately expressed concern about the ad and encouraged the Harris campaign to respond to it saying, "We have to answer it and say we won't do it." The Harris campaign had originally planned to release an ad responding, but the ad ended up performing poorly in internal tests and was ultimately never run.[7]
In early October, podcast hostCharlamagne tha God commended the ad for its effectiveness during a segment ofThe Breakfast Club,[5] saying, "Hell no, I don't want my taxpayer dollars going to that."[20] The Trump campaign then clipped his remarks and added them to another round of ads against his consent. Charlamagne issued acease and desist order, demanding Trump cut him out of his campaign ad.[21]
Former New Jersey GovernorChris Christie also praised the commercial. "The most effective ad that the Trump campaign ran in this campaign was, you know, 'Kamala Harris is for they/them, and Donald Trump is for us.' That's because most people don't see themselves as they/them. Yet, the Democrats have spent more time talking about a trans issue, which, quite frankly, is infinitesimal."[22]
Minnesota Governor and Harris's running mate,Tim Walz, responded: "They're running millions of dollars of adsdemonizing folks who are just trying to live their lives."[23]
Sarah McBride, who is the first openly transgender member of Congress and was elected to theHouse of Representatives in 2024, said of the ads: "It wasn't thesurgery point, it wasn't the undocumented-immigrant point, it wasn't the trans point, it was the concept in that line that Kamala Harris, according to the ad, was for a small group of people, and Donald Trump was there for 'you'."[24]
In the first episode of his podcast,This is Gavin Newsom, Democratic California governorGavin Newsom agreed with his first guest, conservative activistCharlie Kirk, that "Kamala is for they/them" was the most politically harmful attack ad against Harris. "She didn't even react to it, which was even more devastating," Newsom said. He added that "it was a great ad."[25]
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