What does Gov. Laura Kelly think of a Kansas transgender athlete ban? New ad muddies waters.

Gov. Laura Kelly's campaign is under fire Wednesday for a new television ad that muddies the water on her position regarding a ban on transgender athletes in girls' sports, with Kelly saying "men should not play girls sports" — mirroring rhetoric long used by Republicans.

Republicans in the Legislature sent Kelly a transgender athletes ban in 2021 and 2022, with the Democratic governor vetoing it both times, citing the potential harm to students and risk of boycotts from businesses and events looking to come to Kansas. Legislators narrowly fell short of overriding her veto in both years.

Kelly's Republican challenger, Attorney General Derek Schmidt, has zeroed in on those vetoes of the bill, criticizing the governor for her stance, believing the issue to be one that will win over moderate and independent voters, particularly in suburban Kansas City and Wichita.

Kelly's apparent response came in a television ad that began airing Wednesday morning.

In the ad, the governor says, "You may have seen my opponent's attacks."

"So let me just say it: Of course men should not play girls sports," Kelly said. "OK, we all agree there."

Kelly does not mention her vetoes of the bill or elaborate on her position on the matter. Instead, she shifts gears to attack Schmidt's record on education funding, the first time in her campaign's ads that she has mentioned her challenger by name.

More:Kansas governor vetoes ban on transgender athletes in women's sports for second year in a row

Lauren Fitzgerald, a spokesperson for Kelly, said she "has been consistent in her belief that Kansas kids deserve fairness on the playing field and a safe place to go to school."

"However, those bills created unnecessary new government mandates, and Republican Governors — like in Indiana and Utah — vetoed similar bills in their states," Fitzgerald said in a statement. "These decisions should be made by medical professionals, school officials, families, and local jurisdictions — not politicians."

Fitzgerald continued that Schmidt "has made his campaign about divisive national issues that impact virtually no Kansas schools because he can’t defend his record of supporting (former Gov.) Sam Brownback’s cuts to our schools."

The governor's campaign didn't immediately respond to a question of whether Kelly would be comfortable with a transgender athletes ban being initiated by the Kansas State High School Activities Association or a school district, instead of the state.

Kelly has not previously said that decisions on the ban should be left to local officials but did argue in her 2022 veto message that the bill "didn't come from the experts at our schools, our athletes, or the Kansas State High School Activities Association. It came from politicians trying to score political points."

More:Laura Kelly and Derek Schmidt choose different roads in raucous first election debate

Republicans criticize Kelly for ad, say she is ❛flat out lying❜

The ad drew immediate fire from Republicans, who argue Kelly is lying to voters about her position.

In a statement, Joanna Rodriguez, a spokesperson for the Republican Governors Association, said the ad was a sign of "desperation" from Kelly's campaign.

"Laura Kelly is looking Kansans in the eye and flat out lying about her record of failing to protect girls and women from having to compete against biological men in athletics," Rodriguez said.

Schmidt appeared at a news conference last month to double down on his support for the transgender athletes ban, appearing with Riley Gaines, a University of Kentucky swimmer who lost to competitor Lia Thomas, a transgender woman, in the national finals earlier this year.

Gaines also appeared in a RGA ad criticizing Kelly for vetoing the bill, echoing a common refrain from supporters of the measure that it ensures fairness in women's athletics due to biological differences between sexes.

"If Laura Kelly can't protect women, she shouldn't be governor of Kansas," she said in the ad, which rolled out earlier this month.

More: Ron DeSantis in Kansas for Derek Schmidt event. Here's what his stop means for the governor's race.

A separate RGA ad for Schmidt launched last week also references the issue, and it was a key point referenced at a rally he held with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis Sunday in Olathe.

Opponents of the bill have argued such a measure is unnecessary, with relatively few transgender athletes in the state. Moreover, Kelly and others have said it is damaging to the mental health of LGBT youths and could lead to economic boycotts from companies doing business in Kansas.

Tom Witt, executive director of Equality Kansas, said Kelly's comments in the ad reflected a push by conservatives "to plant an image in people's minds of grown men beating up little 5-year-old girls in games of kickball."

"They're using little LGBT kids as punching bags, the other side of this is," he said. "So if you want to talk about someone ill-advised to be doing a certain thing in their campaigning, turning little trans kids into targets is just heinous, and they shouldn't be doing it."

The race between Kelly and Schmidt is currently a narrow one. A new poll released Wednesday by Emerson College showed Kelly with a 45-43 lead over Schmidt, though that puts the race inside the margin of error, making it effectively a toss-up.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Gov. Laura Kelly under fire over new ad on transgender athlete ban