I've seen a lot of people referencing the $215 million Republicans...
Casey Parks@caseyparks
5 views
Jul 17, 2025
~2 min read
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I've seen a lot of people referencing the $215 million Republicans spent on ads. Data on LGBTQ people can be VERY hard to find, so I wanted to offer some context on how I calculated that number. It wasn't readily available. I spent a week figuring it out. 1/
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First, I started by asking @AdImpact for a spreadsheet of every ad they have tracked that mentioned LGBTQ people. Thankfully they have people watching ads in every state! They gave me the spreadsheet for free! 2/
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@adimpact Their spreadsheet included ads taken out by Democrats, Republicans and "Independents." Their spreadsheet also included ads that only ran in 2023, which is technically this election cycle, but felt too old for my reporting. 3/
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The spreadsheet included 371 ads. To calculate my figure, I watched every ad. I wanted to see how much Republicans and Independents spent on anti-trans ads, so I eliminated any pro-LGBTQ rights ads. There were relatively few of those. Joe Biden took out one. Harris took out 0.
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Some of the ads also struck me as not explicitly anti-LGBTQ. There may have been a veiled mention to "wokeness," but that could also be targeting DEI, etc., so I did not include those in my final $215 million figure. 5/
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My final tally includes ads both for the primary and general elections. One thing I noticed about the primary election is MANY Republicans took out ads accusing each other of being pro-trans. The Republican candidates for West Virginia governor were especially keen on that tactic
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I also noticed many Republicans included weapons in their ads. A candidate for Lieutenant Governor in Missouri shot a gun and promised she never misses. Multiple candidates in multiple states used blow torches. Candidates in Texas took on anti-trans ads in Spanish. 7/
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I also noticed ads in several swing states included video and photo footage of one woman. @CHold helped me figure out who she was, and I wrote a story about her: wapo.st/4etfbev
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I'm happy to send the spreadsheet to anyone who would like it. Anyone could do the work I did, but it did take quite a lot of work, and I am lucky I have a job that gives me time to put these pieces together.
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I know many of you have canceled your Post subscriptions because of our owner, but please consider continuing to read my work. I will always offer gift links. I've covered trans issues since 2015, and I travel the country (on the Post's dime!) to document trans people's stories.
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All that to say, it takes a lot of work to unearth what is happening to LGBTQ people. I'm especially grateful to @lgbtmap and @ErinInTheMorn, both of whom track every single anti-LGBTQ bill and more. There would be no clear number of bills without their shoe-leather work.
