Opinion: GOP ads attack Sherrod Brown on trans issues. That won't pay off in Ohio.

If you watch much television, you’ve probably seen the campaign commercials that suggest Democratic Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown supports allowing hulking transgender women to compete in high school girls’ basketball and share their locker rooms.

He’s not the only Democratic candidate being targeted. The New York Times reported recently that more than $65 million has been pumped into ads on such transgender issues, which Republicans think many voters oppose.

Much of the spending is by the Republicans’ Senate Leadership Fund. It has charged that Brown, being challenged by the GOP’s Bernie Moreno, voted for allowing "transgender biological men to compete in girls’ sports," among other things.

Fact-checker calls GOP ad false

The Poynter Institute’s fact-checking website PolitiFact reviewed the commercials and Brown’s record and concluded the commercials falsely mischaracterized Brown's votes that came on "much broader spending bills."

Next time you see those ads, ask yourself if you’ve ever witnessed a biological male playing in an Ohio girls’ hoops game (or volleyball, swimming, track, softball). Or have direct knowledge of a biological male routinely using the girls’ locker room.

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s campaign has run ads against Kamala Harris on transgender issues, which he has dubbed "transgender insanity."

In a Wisconsin campaign rally, Trump asked: "Can you imagine you’re a parent and your son leaves the house and you say 'Jimmy, I love you so much, go have a good day in school,' and your son comes back with a brutal operation. Can you even imagine this?"

No, because it doesn’t happen.

Transgender journalist Erin Reed wrote that transgender people make up only a small percentage of the population and few voters rank transgender issues high on their list of concerns.

"This isn’t the first time Republicans have targeted transgender people in their campaigns," Reed wrote recently . "It’s become a staple of their strategy when they feel desperate. The problem for Republicans is that … turning to transgender issues in a general election is a gamble that rarely pays off."

The main impact is probably stigmatizing transgender youth.

Dan Sewell is a regular Opinion contributor. Contact: dsewellrojos@gmail.com

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Opinion: GOP ads attack Sherrod Brown on trans issues. That won't pay off in Ohio.