Forgot Your Password?

New to The Nation? Subscribe

Print subscriber? Activate your online access

.nation-small__b{fill:#fff;}

We Need More Pro-Trans Politicians. This Group Thinks It Knows How to Get Them.

Talking to Tyler Hack, who leads the nation’s only political action group dedicated solely to getting trans rights supporters elected.

Ed Markey, Democrat from Massachusetts, speaks outside the US Supreme Court as justices hear arguments in challenges to state bans on transgender athletes in women’s sports on January 13, 2026.

Tyler Hack spent the 2024 election watching Republicans villainize transgender Americans, and Democrats distance themselves from trans people, or worse, join in.

“I was at fundraisers and meetings with members of Congress for the Democratic Party where I was the only trans person in the room,” said Hack. “Democrats threw trans people under the bus for the election loss not because of Republican millionaires or because of corporations ripping us off, but because of trans kids. We knew that we couldn’t wait for political power.”

Hack founded the Christopher Street Project, the only operating political action group focused solely on trans rights. Hack said she created the Christopher Street Project to elect pro-trans candidates and hold politicians accountable. The organization focuses on training its candidates on how to use effective, committed pro-trans messaging. The primary winners Hack and her organization have supported and campaigned with include New York’s Brad Lander and Claire Valdez, Minnesota’s Peggy Flanagan, and Michigan’s Abdul El-Sayed.

Last month, Hack celebrated a particularly sweet victory after incumbent Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey trounced his challenger, Representative Seth Moulton, in the state’s Democratic primary election. It was Moulton who, less than 48 hours after Kamala Harris lost the 2024 election, infamously told The New York Times, “I have two little girls. I don’t want them getting run over on a playing field by a male or formerly male athlete, but as a Democrat I’m supposed to be afraid to say that.”

Hack spent the early weeks of September stumping for Markey, who made Moulton’s comments a key theme of his campaign. She then kicked off Markey’s victory rally.

“He wanted a promotion, and he got fired,” said Hack of Moulton. “Seth Moulton got booed at No Kings in 2025 while Markey showed up wearing a trans flag around his neck. Trans rights was the issue for this election.”

But the Massachusetts Senate primary is only one race. With the midterms coming up, I talked to Hack about what the political landscape for trans rights looks like, why Republicans attack the trans community, and the playbook for getting pro-trans candidates into office.

Elsie Carson-Holt: Can you introduce yourself and your organization?

Tyler Hack: My name is Tyler Hack. I am the founder and executive director of the Christopher Street Project. There was a question after 2024 of whether trans people still belonged in the Democratic Party, whether we would go the way of the Labour Party in the UK, and we, as members of the Democratic Party, are doing the opposite. We said Democrats who don’t stand with us, especially in safe seats, don’t stand by our democratic........

© The Nation