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In the wake of last year’s election, Rep. Seth Moulton drew widespread outrage and protests at his office for falsely claiming, amid a heap of open transphobia, that support for trans rights cost Democrats the 2024 elections.

“Democrats spend way too much time trying not to offend anyone rather than being brutally honest about the challenges many Americans face,” Moulton told the New York Times. “I have two little girls, I don’t want them getting run over on a playing field by a male or formerly male athlete, but as a Democrat I’m supposed to be afraid to say that.”

Less than a year later, Moulton—who ran unopposed last year—is facing a primary challenge from trans agender software engineer Bethany Andres-Beck. Andres-Beck sat down with Trans News Network contributor Tom Sayers this week to discuss their campaign and how they see their role as a trans candidate at a time when our rights and very existence are under constant attack and scrutiny.

And, no, they don’t think trans rights cost the Dems the election. “Absolutely not. Inflation cost us the general election last year,” they said while laughing in an exclusive interview with Trans News Network contributor Tom Sayers.

The data agrees with that analysis: A GQR poll found that, among non-Harris voters, opposition to trans rights ranked far behind concerns about the economy. The same poll also found voters overwhelmingly preferred Harris over Trump on trans rights by a margin of 12 points (52–40).

At a broader level, Andres-Beck represents a new wave of progressive candidates across the country channeling grassroots anger against Democratic party leadership through primary campaigns against powerful incumbents. Zohran Mamdani’s overwhelming defeat of former NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo to become the Democratic nominee for mayor of New York City exemplifies the demand for something new from the party base. Mamdani won on a working class message without compromising his strong positions in support of Palestinians and trans people against ongoing attacks on both groups by both Democrats and Republicans.

“I think there is a new approach to politics that is unlocking,” they said. “We have these direct communication pathways with voters where you can build connections…I’m putting myself out there and saying ‘Hey, is this something you’d want? Feel free to come join me.’”

Andres-Beck bucks the Democratic party establishment on issues that have sharply divided the party since the start of Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza, such as their commitment to not take money from corporate PACs or the Israel lobby. They said they see a connection between Palestinian liberation and trans liberation because both involve “the belief that something is so important that we are willing to do what we know we need to do, and then we’ll face the consequences whatever those end up being.”

As for why Andres-Beck is running, “I’m doing this because I want to make things possible in America that people have assumed to be out of the question…so that we can have nice things,” Andres-Beck told Trans News Network. What they’re offering is, to them, profoundly different to congressman Moulton. “To him, this is a career,” said Andres-Beck. “I’m doing this because of what I can accomplish…I like living in Middleton…I want to be here to serve my neighbors and my community and work with other people who also want to find hope.”

–Edited by David Forbes and Mady Castigan 

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