WASHINGTON: Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance has found out the hard way that the Internet not only likes cats, but also childless cat ladies, resurfacing his argument that childless cat ladies are unfit to govern.
In a 2021 clip, Vance specifically singled out childless people on Fox News, including current Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris, saying “childless cat ladies” are “miserable” people and have no “direct stake” in the country.
The comments drew a barrage of criticism, with some accusing the father of three of representing a sexist, out-of-touch, and out-of-date Republican mindset.
“It would be funny if it weren’t so sad,” Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz told MSNBC, adding, “Oh my goodness, they chased the ‘cat people.’ Good luck!”
If Harris, who has two stepchildren, defeats former Republican President Donald Trump in November, she will not only become the first female president, but also the first black and Asian woman, potentially drawing attacks from a variety of demographics.
While several Republicans have taken issue with her childlessness, her online fan base, the “KHive,” has come to her defense with memes, outrage, and supportive posts featuring celebrities, politicians, and family members.
A furious Jennifer Aniston pointed out that the actress has spoken publicly in the past about her infertility, while comedian and talk show host Whoopi Goldberg asked, “Now, what the heck?”
A resurfaced 2021 clip shows Vance, then a U.S. Senate candidate from Ohio, telling Fox's Tucker Carlson that America is run by “a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable with their lives and the choices they've made, and they want to make the rest of the country miserable, too.”
“It’s just a basic fact. Look at Kamala Harris, look at Pete Buttigieg, look at AOC. The entire future of the Democratic Party is controlled by people who don’t have children,” Vance said.
“And how does it make sense that we have handed our country over to people who have no real stake in it?”
Buttigieg, who is U.S. Transportation Secretary and adopted two children in the same year, told CNN that the comments were hurtful because he was struggling with adoption issues at the time.
“He couldn’t have known that,” Buttigieg said. “But maybe that’s why you shouldn’t talk about other people’s kids.”
Harris has two stepchildren, Cole and Ella, through her husband Doug Emhoff and his first wife.
Their mother, Kirsten Emhoff, said in a statement to CNN that the attacks on Harris were “baseless.”
“Kamala has been raising children with Doug and me for over 10 years, since Cole and Ella were teenagers,” she said.
“I love our blended family and am grateful that she is a part of it.”
“I love my parents,” 25-year-old Ella, who calls Harris “Momala,” wrote on Instagram.
“How can you be 'childless' when you have cute kids like Cole and me?”
Harris supporters were quick to point out that all U.S. presidents have physically never fathered a child, as they have all been male. Few presidents have fathered children.
The most notable of these is George Washington, the first president of the United States, who, like Harris, helped raise children from his first marriage.
Meghan McCain, daughter of Republican Sen. John McCain, warned that Vance's comments were “activating women at all levels, including my most conservative friends who support Trump.”
As politicians focus more on their children, reproductive health and abortion access, issues Harris championed, have emerged as central themes in this year's election.
“Political leaders need to have children. Or at least be married,” Blake Masters, a venture capitalist and former Trump-endorsed congressional candidate, wrote on X.
“If you don’t or can’t run your own household, how can you relate to your family, respect future generations and govern wisely?” he said.
In a 2021 speech, Vance even suggested that people with children should have more votes.
“As parents in this country, we should have more power when we go to the polls,” he said in a quote unearthed by the Washington Post, adding, “If we hadn’t invested so much in the future of this country, we probably wouldn’t have had nearly as much of a voice.”
Vance's campaign later dismissed the remarks as a “thought experiment.”
