U.S. Senate candidate Greg Levy’s socialist campaign draws LGBTQ+ voters in contentious midterms

Over the summer, Greg Levy’s campaign staffed tents and tables at LGBTQ+ Pride celebrations, flooding parades with campaign signs that read “Gays 4 Greg” and “Lesbians 4 Levy.”

Levy is facing current Ohio Senator Republican Sen. John Husted – who was appointed by the governor to fill the seat after J.D. Vance resigned to serve as Vice President – and former three-term Democratic senator Sherrod Brown, who lost re-election to Republican Sen. Bernie Moreno in 2024.

Some LGBTQ+ leaders have criticized Levy, pointing to Republican-backed efforts to use his campaign to redirect votes away from Brown – therefore increasing Husted’s chances of winning.

But Levy – who is not an LGBTQ+ person – said he knows why his platform has taken resonated with other LGBTQ+ voters:

“They support us, and it’s not because we’re doing something so special. It’s because the mainstream politicians have openly abandoned the LGBTQ+ community and thrown workers under the bus,” Levy said. 

“Billionaire politicians are using trans people’s lives as a political football to attack each other,” he added. “We recognize that, and we’re bold about our support of LGBTQ+ equality.”

Contentious midterms

Levy – who grew up in Akron and works full-time as a mover – is running for the U.S. Senate as member of the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL), and will appear on the November ballot in a special election NBC News has called among “the most expensive and consequential in the country.”

Despite the buzz, Levy’s actual support is still very low: Recent polls show him splitting about 4% of the vote with another third-party candidate, Libertarian William Redpath.

In 2023, Brown told reporters with WSYX he believes “a child’s health care decisions are between them, their parents, their families and their doctors, not politicians.” But after facing a torrent of false advertising from the Republican party in its attempt to make this a one-issue election around attacking transgender people, Brown has since been quiet about  access to gender-affirming healthcare for transgender Ohioans – garnering criticism from some LGBTQ+ leaders.

This year, Husted’s campaign has placed a special focus on transgender Ohioans throughout the midterm election cycle, using inaccurate medical terminology across a slew of anti-transgender ads attacking Brown.

Ads paid for by Republican PACs told voters Brown “supports sex changes for minors,” in an effort to stir anti-transgender sentiment ahead of Election Day. However, the political detransitioner featured in the advertisement never received gender-affirming care as a minor or in the state of Ohio. In response, Brown released an ad clarifying that gender-affirming healthcare is already illegal for transgender youth under Ohio’s statewide ban.

Levy called the back-and-forth on transgender rights “absurd.”

“With Husted’s ad and Sherrod Brown’s response being basically that he supports Republican laws on trans people, it really only serves to divide working people from our shared enemy,” Levy said. “Trans children are not the enemy. The only dangerous minority is the billionaire class themselves.”

‘Gays 4 Greg’

“I’m very humbled by the support of the LGBTQ+ community,” Levy said. “They are workers and they are community members who deserve representation. I just don’t believe in throwing workers under the bus.”

Levy’s platform includes fighting for universal healthcare, cutting the Pentagon budget by 90%, abolishing ICE, putting police under community control and “making free education accessible from the cradle to the grave.”

A 2021 Human Rights Campaign Foundation analysis of data reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics found that LGBTQ+ workers earn roughly 90 cents on the dollar compared to their straight, cisgender peers.

For transgender workers and LGBTQ+ workers of color, that number is even lower.

Because LGBTQ+ people earn less across their lifetimes and are more likely to work low-wage, non-salaried and labor intensive jobs than their straight, cisgender peers, Levy said the PSL’s party platform has a direct tie to their interests as workers.

“We use the term workers all the time because we need to introduce the language into our lexicon that unites us,” Levy said. “Our struggle as working class people does that.”

Splitting the vote

While some LGBTQ+ voters are drawn to Levy’s campaign, others argue it pulls votes away from Brown.

Last week, PBS reported that Republican-backed super PAC Enough Promises Ohio spent $400,000 on mailers urging voters to support Levy on Election Day in a clear effort to split valuable votes between Levy and Brown.

“We reject and condemn the dirty tricks and racist impersonation of our campaign,” Levy said via a written statement.

He called the fake flyers a “cheap, cowardly attack” and “meant to demean the communities we represent and scare voters away from policies that put the needs of working families ahead of corporate profits.”

“There is a well established record of both Republican and Democratic Party operatives using their financial resources to try and trick voters,” Levy said. “This is a highly undemocratic practice and does a disservice to voters in Ohio and throughout the country.”

Rejecting anti-LGBTQ+ Democrats

Levy encouraged voters to reject both anti-transgender Republicans like Husted and Democrats like Rep. Marcy Kaptur and Ohio gubernatorial candidate Dr. Amy Acton, who have both used anti-transgender language ahead of the midterms.

“Democrats won’t save us,” he told The Buckeye Flame. “It’s on us to organize ourselves in our communities. We can do that and we want to show people, not just tell them.”

“We want to be something that they can see that is working out in real time,” he added. “The only way to really fight for trans equality for LGBTQ+ liberation is to fight for socialism and overturn capitalism for good.”

Levy encouraged LGBTQ+ Ohioans to cast a vote for him and other PSL candidates, but said that process requires a “tireless commitment to one another” that extends far beyond the election.

“I recently got a letter from a trans person who’s really scared with what the future has in store for their community,” Levy said. “Despite that fear, they told me that they have hope in our movement. “That is the kind of hope that we have for change in the future, not just in our singular campaign.”

“Your vote goes a long way to show the people’s will for change, but voting isn’t the end goal,” Levy said. “The end goal is getting organized and taking power in our own hands, like Stonewall in the 60s.”

“That’s what the spirit that we’re trying to embody,” he added. “We’re just trying to encourage people and invite people into the movement.” 🔥

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IGNITE ACTION

• To learn more about Greg Levy’s campaign, click here.
• To learn more about the Party for Socialism and Liberation, click here.
• Check out “Out at the Polls,” The Buckeye Flame’s voting guide by going here.
• To register to vote or to check your voter eligibility status in the state of Ohio, click here.
• To find contact information for your Ohio state representative, click here.
• To find contact information for your Ohio senator, click here.
• If you are a young LGBTQ+ person in crisis, please contact the Trevor Project: 866-4-U-Trevor.
• If you are an transgender adult in need of immediate help, contact the National Trans Lifeline: 877-565-8860