Ohio Senate candidate invokes Lia Thomas in attack on trans athletes

metroweekly.com:

Hillbilly Elegy, and Josh Mandel, the former Ohio state treasurer and two-time U.S. Senate candidate who is back for his third run,  blames Democrats and President Biden for NCAA rules that allow transgender females to compete on women’s sports teams in her most recent campaign commercial, reports The Hill..Given Vance and Mandel’s previous appeals to social conservatives by attacking the transgender and two-spirit communities, Timken, the third of three frontrunners in the GOP field — who heretofore was viewed as the more “establishment” figure — is hoping the ad gains traction and allows her to consolidate Republican primary voters behind her campaign.Thomas, who previously competed for UPenn’s men’s swimming team during her first three years in college, has particularly become a favorite target of conservatives, who balk at the idea that she was allowed to compete in women’s swimming after having received hormone therapy for two-and-a-half years (under NCAA rules, trans women are able to compete after finishing a year of hormone therapy).

As a result, Republicans have used Thomas as a symbol of the excesses and consequences of  “woke” culture, including the embrace of transgender rights, in the hope that their message will resonate with voters and assist them in regaining control of Congress.Last week, Florida Gov.

Ron DeSantis even said he would not recognize Thomas’s win, instead dubbing second-place finisher and University of Virginia swimmer Emma Weyant, who is originally from Florida as the “rightful winner.”A shrewd politician who’s never one to miss out on an opportunity for self-promotion, Timken pounces on the timely issue in her campaign commercial.“As a mom and former college athlete, I know how important.