Riley Gaines stars in Hawley campaign ad hitting Missouri Dem's support for 'radical trans agenda'

FIRST ON FOX: Riley Gaines is starring front and center in a new ad for Republican Sen. Josh Hawley's re-election campaign against progressive challenger Lucas Kunce in Missouri.

The 30-second ad obtained by Fox News Digital is narrated by Gaines and shows her diving into a pool as the camera pans to her telling her story. 

"As a child, I woke up at four am to swim every day. I fought my way to nationals, but then I was forced to compete against a man," Gaines can be heard saying in the video. "He got the trophy a woman had earned."

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Riley Gaines has been a voice for keeping sports fair for women. (Getty Images)

"It's wrong. Lucas Kunce supports the radical trans agenda, boys in girls' bathrooms, sex change operations for minors, explicit teaching in grade school – it's gross. But Josh Hawley defends the rights of women, Josh. Hawley is on our side," Gaines said.

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Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) speaks during a Senate Judiciary Committee business meeting to vote on Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson on Capitol Hill, April 4, 2022 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

During the 2022 primaries, Kunce, a progressive Democrat, supported transgender treatment for children. On Thursday, Kunce posted a video of Hawley on X talking about Missouri's Amendment 3 – the state's right to abortion initiative – where Hawley said that Kunce supports transgender treatments for minors. 

"Josh Hawley is so afraid of sharing the ballot with an amendment to end his total abortion ban that it’s broken his brain," Kunce posted to X in response. 

Kunce won the Democratic primary in Missouri, a Republican state, last month and has his sights set on unseating Hawley, who was elected in 2019. 

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Transgender policies have been a point of contention between those who believe parents should have more control over their children's education and those who think LGBT students should be allowed to decide what to tell their parents, or not tell them. (Adobe Stock)

"It's an election year, so now Josh Hawley sees ‘mandated sex change surgeries’ behind every corner," a senior Kunce campaign adviser told Fox News Digital. "He even says that Missourians ending his total abortion ban will 'mandate' sex change surgeries for kids. No one's buying it."

In a previous Hawley ad, he said on X, "Of all Lucas Kunce’s nutty policies, this may be the worst: he wants MEN in girls’ sports. And MEN in girls’ locker rooms. It’s nuts - and dangerous. But that’s Kunce."

Jamie Joseph is a writer who covers politics. She leads Fox News Digital coverage of the Senate.