Kansas Democratic gubernatorial nominee Cindy Holscher is facing Republican attacks over resurfaced social media posts in which she entertained the possibility that Jesus Christ could have been transgender, injecting a culture-war issue into one of the country’s most competitive gubernatorial races.

Holscher, a state senator who won the Democratic nomination last week, made the comments on social media in 2023 during a debate over proposed Kansas legislation targeting drag performances in front of children. At least one of the posts remained online as of this week, while another appears to have been deleted.

In a March 7, 2023, post, Holscher responded to another user by writing, “I have no idea if Jesus was trans, gay, straight, etc.”

“But you seem to imply that a sacred figure is ‘less than’ if they aren’t straight. That’s too bad,” Holscher continued, before asking the user for “proof that schools are grooming children.”

The exchange came after Holscher criticized Senate Bill 149, legislation introduced that year that sought to restrict drag performances accessible to minors.

In an earlier post included in the exchange, Holscher noted that the proposal would make certain drag performances with children in attendance a crime and shared an illustration depicting Jesus sitting with a group of children, writing, “So, what about this???”

A user responded by asking whether Holscher was “suggesting that Jesus was a transgender?” Holscher subsequently posted her response, saying she did not know whether Jesus was “trans, gay, straight, etc.”

The legislation at the center of the dispute would have classified certain drag performances as an “obscenity to minors.” Under the proposal, a first offense would have been a Class A misdemeanor and a second offense a felony. The bill, introduced by Republican state Sen. Mike Thompson, was referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee but never advanced and ultimately died in committee in 2024.

The posts are resurfacing as Holscher moves from a Democratic primary into a difficult general election contest against Republican Ty Masterson, giving the GOP nominee a new line of attack as Republicans seek to retake the governor’s mansion.

“If anyone needs proof that Cindy Holscher is a radical, here it is,” Masterson said in a statement to the Washington Examiner. “She mocked Jesus Christ to defend drag shows for kids, and she’s never apologized.

“That’s not your parents’ Democrat, that’s the most radical liberal nominee in Kansas history,” he said. “This November the choice could not be clearer.”

Holscher’s campaign pushed back on Masterson’s criticism, accusing the Republican nominee of focusing on years-old social media posts to divert attention from economic issues.

“Ty Masterson is focused on old tweets while Kansans’ bills are skyrocketing,” Holscher spokesman TJ Helmstetter said in a statement to the Washington Examiner. “He’s trying to distract voters from his failure to lower property taxes and his extreme agenda, but they’ll see right through it.”

The controversy comes at the outset of a general election that will determine whether Democrats can extend their eight-year hold on the Kansas governor’s mansion after Gov. Laura Kelly leaves office.

Holscher defeated fellow state lawmaker Ethan Corson for the Democratic nomination last week despite Kelly endorsing Corson, handing the outgoing governor and the Democratic establishment a defeat in the primary. She will now face Masterson in November.

The general election presents a challenging political environment for Democrats. Republicans have a sizable voter-registration advantage in Kansas, with GOP voters registered at nearly twice the rate of Democrats, and the Cook Political Report rates the contest “Lean Republican.”

The resurfaced Holscher posts also come as another Democratic nominee in a marquee 2026 race faces scrutiny over past comments connecting religion and gender. Texas state Rep. James Talarico has found himself in hot water over his 2021 declaration that “God is nonbinary,” a remark Republicans have made a major line of attack in his Senate race against Republican state Attorney General Ken Paxton.

Talarico made the comment during a debate in the Texas legislature over legislation requiring K-12 student athletes to compete on teams corresponding with the sex listed on their original birth certificates.

Asked about the remark in an interview with ABC News Live in May, Talarico argued Paxton was resurfacing his old comments to distract voters from controversies surrounding the Republican.

“Ken Paxton is clipping my past cringey comments to distract from his career of corruption,” Talarico said, calling it part of a political “playbook” of “distraction and division.”

Talarico acknowledged that his original remark was “meant to be deliberately provocative” but defended the underlying argument, saying he believes “you can’t use human categories to define God.”

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The episodes could offer Republicans another opportunity to use transgender issues against Democratic candidates in competitive races, a strategy the party employed aggressively during the 2024 presidential campaign.

President Donald Trump’s campaign repeatedly targeted then-Vice President Kamala Harris over her positions on transgender issues, most prominently through its “Kamala is for they/them” advertising campaign. The Democratic National Committee’s post-election review later identified the attack as one of the most effective of the election cycle.