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The Human Rights Campaign is ramping up its 2026 midterm strategy with a $15 million investment focused on battleground House districts and on backing Democratic Senate candidates in multiple states, according to the group and its president. Kelley Robinson, the Human Rights Campaign’s Washington-based president, said the effort is intended to bring a “next wind” to a fight the group views as moving toward a pro-equality majority.
Robinson spoke in an interview with The Associated Press about the group’s spending plan, saying the campaign’s messaging work is meant to shift momentum in how LGBTQ+ issues are presented to voters. She framed the approach as a response to setbacks in recent years, describing the HRC as re-evaluating what messages connect most effectively beyond advocacy circles.
In addition to targeting Republicans in eight congressional districts that could help determine control of the U.S. House, the Human Rights Campaign said it is supporting Democratic candidates for the U.S. Senate in Georgia, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Ohio and Texas. The group said the money will be spent on advertising, events and canvassers.
Robinson’s remarks also placed the midterm push in the context of recent changes to transgender-related policies and legal outcomes. The Associated Press story describes President Donald Trump’s administration as rolling back protections for transgender people, including banning them from serving in the military and cutting off gender-affirming care for children. It also points to the U.S. Supreme Court’s conservative majority upholding Republican states’ restrictions while striking down bans on “conversion therapy” practices in Democratic states.
The HRC president said the party’s challenges extend to the way Democrats relate LGBTQ+ rights to voters in a political climate that has included campaign attacks. She cited how, after the 2024 presidential election, Democrats split internally about the role LGBTQ+ rights played in the party’s losses and how Republicans used the issue in television ads.
The Associated Press report said the Trump campaign ran advertisements mocking Vice President Kamala Harris for supporting medical gender transitions for incarcerated people and highlighting transgender people playing on women’s sports teams. The story includes the example of a national ad featuring a voice-over that said, “Kamala Harris is for they/them,” and “President Trump is for you,” describing how conservative messaging and its framing became part of the political contest.
Robinson argued in the interview that the ad was effective because of what she described as an implicit economic message, not because of its critiques of transgender policies. At the same time, she acknowledged that some activists and Democrats have raised concerns that those stances may be too unpopular with swing voters and about whether the issue can be kept in a political lane that persuades rather than alienates.
Leor Sapir, identified as a fellow with the Manhattan Institute, argued in the interview that there is “a real disconnect between most voters and the party elite.” Sapir added, “If I’m a Democrat consultant, my advice would be: Do everything in your power to keep this issue off the public agenda.”
Robinson said the Human Rights Campaign has been doing what she described as “soul-searching” to craft winning messages on LGBTQ+ rights. She said, “Our job is to move away from the fireballs that our opposition wants to talk about and instead find a way to get back to the things that are impacting folks every day,” and she said the group emphasizes listening to voters as a way to address questions directly.
The Associated Press report said the HRC published a guide in January to help candidates blunt conservative attacks on LGBTQ+ issues. It described the guide as encouraging candidates to “lead with your values” and “address concerns directly,” while also advising them to “go big” and quickly pivot to issues such as cost-of-living concerns. Robinson said she believes a key way to shut out a voter is to tell them their fears are not real, and she said the group coaches candidates to listen because the stakes are too high to ignore what voters are asking about.