TOPEKA — A feedlot co-owner’s bravado-based congressional campaign projects an image of a muscular cowboy eager to fight transgender kids, non-Christians, fake Republicans, “illegals” and socialists.
As a political unknown in a crowded Republican field in the 2nd District, Shawn Tiffany has launched a series of television ads designed to attract attention. They include a dehumanizing attack on transgender children, a parody of the Jimmy Dean County song “Big Bad John,” and scaremongering about “the border invasion.”
He appears in a crisp white cowboy hat and a button-down shirt tucked into blue jeans, sometimes adding the touch of mirrored sunglasses, against a background of fields, cattle, horses and a barn.
“In Kansas,” he says in the first ad he launched, “we know the difference between a cow and a bull, and Rocky Mountain oysters are a true delicacy. But castration is for livestock, not for our children.”
In reality, castration is the difference between a steer and a bull. But Tiffany’s ads are not reality-oriented.
“In Congress, I will ban boys from girls’ sports and bathrooms and stop the radical left from maiming children,” Tiffany says in the ad.
LGBTQ+ advocates expressed concern about the announcement’s distortion of gender-affirming care, which for minors involves treatments such as puberty blockers. For transgender adults, surgery is considered a life-saving treatment.
This year, the Kansas Legislature attempted to criminalize gender-affirming child care, but failed to override Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto.
“I am deeply disappointed and frankly disgusted to see a candidate compare animal neutering to gender-affirming grooming surgery,” said Taryn Jones, policy director for Equality Kansas. “Kansans have continued to speak out against gender-affirming care bans.”
Tiffany did not respond to questions for this story, including whether she is concerned her ad will harm the mental health of trans children, whether she could point to any evidence of a child in Kansas having undergone gender-affirming surgery, whether she could point out an example of a transgender athlete in Kansas who competes with women or girls, or if you have ever met a transgender person.
“Using fear-based misinformation and dehumanizing people is always dangerous and unacceptable,” said Melissa Stiehler, Loud Light Advocacy Director. “It is especially concerning in Kansas, where our recent history is rife with political rhetoric that inspires real violence, as we saw in the Overland Park Jewish Community Center shooting and the Garden City bombing plot.”
Tiffany’s second ad.to the tune of “Big Bad John,” he says “Big Shawn” will be a nightmare for RINOs (Republicans in Name Only) and “will stop China from taking over land in Kansas.”
“Every day he gets up long before dawn,” the jingle says. “Christian, conservative with cowboy muscles. Shawn Tiffany puts on his boots and prepares to fight. The great Shawn.
The narrator assures us that Tiffany will not simply build a wall on the southern border. She’ll make it higher and, “Damn, she’ll build a moat.”
In the third advertisement, Tiffany says the rush of “immigrants and drugs” across the southern border is “betrayal.” She promises to deport immigrants “faster than you can say ‘goodbye.’ “
Tiffany is one of five candidates seeking the Republican nomination in the 2nd District primary. Derek Schmidt, whose name has considerable name recognition after his 12 years as Kansas attorney general and campaign for governor in 2022, appears to be his favorite. Others in the race include former congressional aide Jeff Kahrs, Michael Ogle of Topeka and Chad Young of Lawrence.
Bob Beatty, a political science professor at Washburn University who has cataloged more than 1,500 television advertisements of Kansas political races, said Tiffany’s approach to seeking attention “makes a lot of sense.”
Schmidt’s name recognition is “off the charts,” Beatty said, compared to Tiffany, best known as the former president of the Kansas Livestock Association.
“What a candidate like Tiffany has to do is get her name recognition and do it quickly,” Beatty said. “How do you do something quickly? You surprise them a little. So this doesn’t really surprise me.”
Other Kansas candidates have tried this approach in the past, with little success. In 2018, Steve Watkins won the Republican primary by dramatically outspending his opponents on television ads. But Watkins had no known opponent and the strategy requires a lot of money, Beatty said.
In a gerrymandered district where Democrats face many difficulties, Republicans can safely push their primary campaigns to the far right, even invoking, for example, the castration of children.
“Many of the people who are repulsed by this ad will not vote in the Republican primary,” Beatty said.
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