Swimmer Riley Gaines, who competed against controversial transgender collegiate swimmer Lia Thomas, is speaking out again — this time against Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly (D).
“If Laura Kelly can’t protect women, she shouldn’t be governor of Kansas,” Gaines says in the video, which features her swimming in a pool.
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NEW TV ad: Swimmer @RileyGaines experienced firsthand what happens when girls’ & women’s sports aren’t protected.
“Laura Kelly vetoed laws to protect women & girls in sports, not once, but twice. If Laura Kelly can’t protect women, she shouldn’t be governor of Kansas.” #ksleg pic.twitter.com/zEjLLamuiS
— The RGA (@GOPGovs) September 15, 2022
“Laura Kelly vetoed laws to protect women and girls in sports — not once but twice,” she tells viewers.
In April, Kelly vetoed a ban on allowing biological men to compete in sports designated for biological women.
“We all want a fair and safe place for our kids to play and compete,” she said in her veto message. “However, this 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.”
Kelly is facing Republican candidate Derek Schmidt, the state’s current attorney general, on Nov. 8.
“As a child, I woke up at 4 a.m. to swim. Every. Day. And my work got me to nationals,” Gaines continues in the ad, describing her hard work. “But then, I was forced to share a locker room with a biological man. It was uncomfortable and it was wrong.”
“In the pool, he claimed a trophy that a woman had earned. This has to stop,” she continued.
Gaines has been vocal about the issue since seeing it firsthand.
“I think this completely undoes all the work that has been done the past 50 years in terms of developing Title IX and getting women equal opportunities,” she told the Washington Examiner in June.
“Being at that meet, seeing firsthand, not just in terms of height but just jumping off the starting block, Thomas is [already] about half a length ahead, feeling how it affected everyone else, including myself, seeing the tears and seeing the discomfort in the locker room, the talk of anger and frustration — [it] was just majorly eye-opening,” Gaines described at the time.
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In August, former President Donald Trump invited her onstage at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Texas. Trump praised her for being “brave” and speaking up on the subject. She used the opportunity to further advocate securing women’s sports.
