Transgender politics comes to early forefront in Georgia U.S. Senate race

ATLANTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - After Donald Trump successfully took aim at the transgender community as a focal point of his reelection campaign to the White House last year, U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter is hoping to replicate the president’s success in Georgia.

Carter, the first announced GOP challenger to incumbent Democrat Jon Ossoff, released a new campaign ad entitled “Ossoff fan,” that shows what appears to be a transgender woman complaining to an unidentified party on the phone about Carter’s conservative voting record.

Carter’s announced his Senate campaign in early May after Gov. Brian Kemp finally ended speculation about his political future by declining an Ossoff reelection challenge.

Since then, only Georgia Insurance Fire Commissioner John King has entered next year’s GOP Senate primary. Another Georgia congressional representative, northwest Georgia’s Marjorie Taylor Greene, has also decided not to run for Senate.

Carter, 67, represents a district based in Savannah and includes most of Georgia’s coastal south. He served as a Georgia state representative from 2005 to 2009, and a state senator from 2009 to 2014, after which he ran successfully for Congress.

Carter is currently the only licensed pharmacist serving in Congress.

“American parents don’t need federal bureaucrats confirming our children’s genitalia,” said Ossoff campaign spokesperson Ellie Dougherty. “The Republican bill threatened extremely intrusive federal investigation of children’s bodies. Athletic associations and local school districts can ensure fair, safe competition in childhood athletics.”

For his part, Kemp has already signed a bill ed by this year’s General Assembly that prohibits the use of state funds for sex reassignment surgery, hormone replacement therapies or cosmetic procedures for inmates.

The bill prompted Democratic state representatives to hold a walkout before the GOP-controlled state House approved the bill by a vote of 100-2, with every Democratic representative abstaining from the vote after walking out of the chamber.