Republican senator Ted Cruz has drawn criticism after invoking a “left-wing transgender witch” while discussing voter turnout and the increasingly competitive US midterm elections.
Texas senator Ted Cruz has once again put transgender people into the centre of Republican campaign rhetoric — this time while explaining why the 2026 US midterm elections are proving so closely contested.
Appearing on Fox News on Saturday 17 October alongside Alaska senator Dan Sullivan, Cruz was asked why several key races appeared tight.
“This is a close election,” Cruz said.
“This is a real fight, and we cannot take this for granted.”
He then shifted to turnout, arguing that voters opposed to Donald Trump were particularly motivated.
“You asked why this is happening… this happens a lot in midterms, where the party out of power [are] usually ticked off,” Cruz said.
“And right now, if you’re a left-wing transgender witch, you hate Donald Trump.”
Cruz says turnout will decide close races
Cruz continued by arguing that Republicans needed to match the enthusiasm of voters opposed to the administration.
“And you’re gonna show up, you’re energised,” he said.
“The question is, does everybody else show up?”
He went on to ask whether conservatives, libertarians and what he described as “commonsense Americans” would vote in sufficient numbers.
Cruz also said there were “eight to 10 Senate races” that were either tied or within the margin of error.
That figure should be understood as Cruz’s own assessment of the electoral landscape rather than a definitive measurement.
Recent national reporting does show Republicans facing a difficult environment, with several Senate contests highly competitive and control of the chamber still uncertain ahead of the 3 November midterms.
Why the ‘transgender witch’ line matters
Cruz’s wording quickly attracted criticism online, particularly from people questioning why transgender people continue to feature so heavily in Republican messaging.
One widely shared response joked that Republicans had been reduced to campaigning against “transgender witches”, while another pointed to the relatively small proportion of Americans who are transgender.
Those reactions reflect a broader debate already taking place inside Republican politics over whether repeated focus on transgender issues is still electorally effective.
Earlier this month, former Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan, also a Republican, said campaign advertisements centred on transgender people were “just not resonating” with some swing voters.
Phelan’s criticism was about campaign strategy rather than an endorsement of trans-rights policy, but it illustrated growing disagreement inside the party about how much political attention transgender issues should receive.
Trans people remain a major Republican campaign theme
Republican politicians have spent years making transgender policy a prominent electoral issue.
Campaigns and legislation have focused on areas including trans participation in women’s and girls’ sport, access to gender-affirming healthcare, bathroom use and the legal recognition of gender.
Cruz himself has been an outspoken supporter of several such policies.
In previous election cycles he has backed restrictions affecting transgender athletes and gender-affirming healthcare, and he has frequently criticised Democratic positions on gender identity.
His latest comment therefore fits into an established political strategy rather than representing a sudden shift in rhetoric.
Fox News and transgender coverage
Cruz’s remark also arrived during a political media environment in which transgender issues continue to receive substantial attention.
Fox News has repeatedly featured transgender policy and culture-war debates in its political programming, particularly around sport, education and healthcare.
That prominence has itself become part of the debate over whether media and political attention is proportionate to the number of transgender people affected.
The latest comment from Cruz adds another example: a discussion ostensibly about polling and turnout that quickly brought transgender people into the frame.
Midterms remain competitive
The larger electoral picture remains unsettled.
Republicans currently hold both chambers of Congress, but several recent polls and campaign-spending decisions suggest they are defending a number of unexpectedly competitive seats.
A Reuters analysis published this week described control of both chambers as significant to the final two years of Donald Trump’s presidency, with the Senate outcome still uncertain and the House also highly contested.
Polling should still be treated cautiously.
Individual surveys can move, margins of error overlap and turnout assumptions are particularly difficult in midterm elections.
Cruz’s broader point — that participation will matter in close races — is therefore relatively conventional.
His decision to illustrate that argument with a “left-wing transgender witch” is what transformed an otherwise routine turnout discussion into a national talking point.
A familiar political target
For trans Americans, the remark lands in an election cycle where their lives are already being discussed extensively in advertising, legislation and political speeches.
Cruz presented the phrase as shorthand for an especially motivated anti-Trump voter.
Critics saw something else: another example of transgender people being invoked as a political caricature despite representing a small minority of the population.
Whether that rhetoric actually persuades the swing voters Cruz says will decide the election remains a separate question — and one some Republicans themselves are now openly debating.
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