“There are two separate languages that the right and the left speak,” Boyda said. “And so sometimes people tell me from the right that they actually understand what I’m saying, and they don’t understand some other Democrats.”

Boyda said her campaign is focused on rebuilding trust. She plans on putting out a series of videos that not only identify where institutional trust has frayed but how to rebuild it – complete with homework.

It’s an unconventional approach – candidates generally try to avoid giving people additional work. But Boyda was insistent that she was creating a practical way forward and that if people voted for her, they’d be voting to end the division and distrust that runs through politics.

“We haven’t addressed pressing issues for a decade because of the rancor and the dysfunction, because of just distrust in each other,” Boyda said.

Earlier this week, Boyda put out a press release arguing that transgender girls should not be able to participate in girls sports leagues that match their gender identity. While she criticized Republican lawmakers for picking on transgender children, the statement put her firmly out of step with the platform of the Democratic Party.

“When it comes to trans girls in sports, however, the issue is no longer about a private relationship between consenting adults,” Boyda wrote. “There are others involved and I believe their voices need to be heard.”

In the 2022 gubernatorial race, Schmidt made divisive social issues, like transgender rights, a central tenet of his campaign. He pledged to ban transgender women from youth sports leagues that match their gender identity if he were to become governor.

Kleinmann said he believed the decision about who can participate should be left up to youth sports leagues, not Congress.

The two candidates appear relatively similar on some of the key issues in the election – particularly abortion rights and the economy. But on immigration, Kleinmann appears more focused on legislation that would allow more immigrants to enter the country on worker visas and a pathway to citizenship for some people who entered the country illegally. Boyda said the government should focus on border security before working on a pathway to citizenship.

An unconventional approach

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