The presidential election is less than 100 days away, and leaders are wasting no time trying to gain and keep supporters.
One vote that both the Republican nominee, former President Donald Trump, and Vice President Kamala Harris, who's all but secured the Democratic nomination, are vying for is that of the LGBTQ+ community.
A poll conducted by Pathfinder Opinion Research after the 2020 election found 93% of LGBTQ+ registered voters submitted a ballot, and Sarah Kate Ellis, president and CEO of the nonprofit LGBTQ+ advocacy organization GLAAD, told Scripps News that GLAAD's recent polling of LGBTQ voters revealed 94% said they are definitely, or probably voting this year.
That makes the community a potential deciding factor in the 2024 election, according to Ellis, and as of now, she said there's one side that appears to have more of its support.
On the Democrat's side, 81% of the 2020 election survey respondents voted for Joe Biden, and Ellis told Scripps News the Biden-Harris administration proved to have a "stellar record" of more than 350 pro-LGBTQ+ moves over the past three years. She also said that Harris alone has a "longtime record" that's shown she's an ally to the community.
But on the Republican side, Ellis said Trump has had 220 recorded attacks against LGBTQ+ people, which she says is both "really dangerous" in rhetoric and from a policy standpoint. She also points to Project 2025 as a point that can deter the community from voting for Trump.
Project 2025 is a so-called "Presidential Transition Project," that is essentially a playbook for the next Republican president. The 920-page document — with proposals like incentivizing heterosexual marriages, abolishing the Department of Education and removing the term "reproductive rights" from all federal documents — was crafted by the Heritage Foundation, and is filled with input from former Trump administration officials, though Trump has publicly distanced himself from the project.
Still, Project 2025 has aligned itself with the Republican candidate, and Ellis told Scripps News this will not help the party gain the LGBTQ+ vote.
"I don't know why they've attacked our community," she said. "It doesn't make sense because they've always been a constituency of leave government out of people's relationships and leave people alone. But this is very much about controlling our relationships, our families and how we present in society ... It is about criminalizing us, our relationships and our families. So we would live in a country that would see us as criminals for being who we are."
Ellis said that if a "pro-equality candidate" does not win the election this fall, it will become a "very dangerous society" for LGBTQ+ people.
And although Trump has claimed to "know nothing" about Project 2025 and Harris has been openly against it, its connection to Trump's vice presidential pick, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, is raising eyebrows.
Most recently, Vance was tied to Project 2025 because he wrote the forward to Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts' forthcoming book. According to the book's Amazon page, Vance wrote, "In the fights that lay ahead, these ideas are an essential weapon."
As for Harris' vice presidential pick, which has yet to be announced, Ellis said there's one potential choice who is proven to be an anti-Project 2025 advocate: Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who is the first openly gay cabinet member in American history.
Ellis told Scripps News that America is "more than ready" for a gay candidate to be in the top office and that Buttigieg, a vocal anti-Project 2025 politician, would be a great choice as the first to round out Harris' ticket.
"Buttigieg is a phenomenal, phenomenal candidate for vice president," she said. "He is a fighter. He knows how to get in there and explain complex issues and simplify them for all Americans. He really is America's mayor, and I think he could be a phenomenal VP pick."
