Seth Moulton

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Behind the party’s focus on affordability is a growing divide over whether a new majority should advance LGBTQ+ protections.

South Carolina Democratic Senate candidate Annie Andrews (D-SC) greets supporters after a campaign event at the Peace on Earth Consignment and Cafe in Winnsboro, South Carolina, on October 22, 2026.

Democrats are increasingly confident that an economic message can help them win control of Congress on Election Day. But as they weigh what a majority would make possible, they are divided over how to approach transgender rights.

Throughout the 2026 midterm election cycle, Republicans have often resorted to anti-trans attacks, returning to a message many believe helped Donald Trump win back the White House in 2024.

If Democrats prevail next week, some in the party want Congress to act to protect LGBTQ+ rights.

Related: A Republican in your bathroom? New ad highlights GOP’s anti-trans obsession

“We need to have an affirmative platform that protects and expands rights for LGBTQ people,” Sen. Ed Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat, told Politico.

Markey this year fought off a Democratic primary challenge from Rep. Seth Moulton, who spent much of the race distancing himself from past comments blaming transgender athletes for Democrats ‬losing in 2024.

Other Democrats in competitive Senate races have distanced themselves from previous support for trans rights.

Related: Democrats keep asking trans people for money. We’re asking for a backbone

In Texas, Senate candidate James Talarico, a Democrat leading Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton in the polls, has expressed conditional support for restricting trans girls and women from girls’ and women’s sports “if it endangers safety or fairness.” He also said he would support a ban on gender-affirming surgery for minors and has avoided answering whether he would support the Equality Act.

In South Carolina, Democrat Annie Andrews has made a Senate race in the traditionally red state competitive as she runs against Republican Sen. Darline Graham, sister of the late Lindsey Graham, who admitted during a debate that she was unprepared for foreign affairs matters. But as the race became more competitive, Andrews adopted anti-trans rhetoric, including referring to trans women as “biological men.”

To win control of the Senate, Democrats would need to flip Republican-held seats in red states. Their prospects for taking the House are widely considered stronger.

Related: Human Rights Campaign president to Dems caving on trans rights: ‘You’re doing too much and getting too little’

But Democrats who see an economic message as their path to victory argue that pocketbook issues must remain the caucus’s priority if they win. They warn that a different focus could give Trump another opening to attack Congress with anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric.

“The American public is going to want to see our caucus focus on costs as long as he continues to affect the markets negatively with his tariffs and wars,” Texas Democratic U.S. Rep. Marc Veasey told Politico.

Progressives, meanwhile, want to challenge Trump policies targeting trans Americans, including an administration push to seize private medical records of patients receiving gender-affirming care.

Tuesday’s hearing centers on whether the Transgender Education Network of Texas can question a company as it seeks to identify those behind the materials.

LGBTQ+ advocates say the Senate candidate broke promises. Ashley Hinson says he’s running from his voting record.

More than 150 people from at least 30 countries gathered in Montreal to strengthen a global effort to preserve LGBTQ+ history online.

The out actor’s new campaign focuses on performers who are struggling to meet the SAG-AFTRA Health Plan wage requirement.

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Kansas Democratic Senate candidate Adam Hamilton takes questions from the press during his Kick Off Bus Tour event on October 24, 2026, in Olathe, Kansas.

Donald Trump's perfect man, as described by the president in public statements.

President Donald Trump gestures as he speaks during a campaign rally at T. Ed Garrison Arena in Pendleton, South Carolina, on October 21, 2026.

Entrance to the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility in Bedford Hills, N.Y.

Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Scott Turner testifies before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development about his department’s proposed FY2026 budget in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill on May 14, 2026, in Washington, DC.

Scott Presler said friends used his address while "actively working" in the state, but they left quickly after the election.

Intersex advocate Thea Hillman explains how anti-trans laws threaten both transgender and intersex people — and why politicians' narrow definitions of sex fail to reflect the realities of human life.

As politicians debate sex and gender ahead of the midterm elections, The Trevor Project's Zach Eisenstein explains why science tells a more complicated story — and why that matters for intersex people.

The revealing moment is just one of the surprising moments in the new documentary, You Can See Everything.

More than 100 pediatricians and nurses have joined the campaign against Initiative 638, which they say would create harmful barriers for young athletes.

A local newspaper visited the bar after the announcement to find the doors locked and the lights off.