Republican Ted Cruzs desperate search for trans targets in a hateful series of anti-trans attack ads directed at his Democratic opponent Colin Allred has landed the two-term Texas senator in hot water with the parents of two cisgender girls and their high school.The teens appear in at least two fear-mongering ads attacking both the trans community and Allred, picturing them alongside former University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas and CeC Telfer, a Jamaican-born sprinter and the first out trans woman to win an NCAA title. Related Republicans crank out several bizarre anti-trans ads in desperate election bid A Ted Cruz ad falsely accuses his opponent of wanting to allow boys in girls bathrooms. Over a photo of the two teens at an Oregon high school track and field event, a narrator ominously intones, Boys in girls sports. Your LGBTQ+ guide to Election 2024 Stay ahead of the 2024 Election with our newsletter that covers candidates, issues, and perspectives that matter. Subscribe to our Newsletter today A representative from the Beaverton School District demanded the ads be pulled from any and all distribution platforms in an email to the Cruz campaign shared with The Hill, noting that the two athletes pictured are minors.The family nor the school or school district ever gave permission for this photo to be used, the representative wrote. It is alarming that your campaign would have produced/distributed/promoted this ad with false information, especially with minor children involved.The family nor the school or school district ever gave permission for this photo to be used, he wrote. The image originally appeared in an April report byCentral Oregon Daily Newsabout controversy centered on a transgender high school athlete in the state.A Cruz campaign spokesperson responded by saying the photofeatures a female athlete who spoke out against boys playing in girls sports after participating in a track meet where a biological male beat female athletes and impacted individual and team medal results but didnt address the campaign labeling the young women as transboys.Cruz and his fellow MAGA Republicans are training their attention and dollars on the anti-trans messaging and ignoring voters top priorities, including theeconomy and health care despite the strategysovert failure in 2022, when the GOP failed to produce a red wave in the midterms with a massive ad campaign focused on the same trans tropes. For his part, Democratic nominee Allred, whos locked in a tight race with Cruz, has called out the senators anti-trans on-air blitz as a disgusting, false attack, and another example of how Ted Cruz only wants to divide Texans.Cruz will say anything to distract from his dangerous abortion ban that is putting womens lives at risk, trying to raise the retirement age for Social Security and Medicare and fleeing to Cancun during a deadly winter storm, Josh Stewart, an Allred spokesperson, said in a statement.Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.