Vance responds to ‘childless cat ladies’ backlash, claims Democrats are ‘anti-family’

(WASHINGTON) — Vice presidential candidate Sen. JD Vance went on the “Megyn Kelly Show” podcast Friday to defend his past remarks where he questioned Democratic leaders, including Vice President Kamala Harris, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, for not having biological children, referring to them as “childless cat ladies.”

Vance made the comments in 2021, but they have recently resurfaced after former first lady Hillary Clinton shared a clip of the comments on X earlier this week — a little more than a week after Trump picked Vance as his running mate. Harris — who was among those Vance attacked — has secured commitments from enough delegates to become the presumptive Democratic nominee if they all honor their commitment when voting, according to ABC News reporting.

“We are effectively run in this country via the Democrats, via our corporate oligarchs, by a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they’ve made and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable, too,” Vance said in the 2021 Fox News interview.

The main argument Vance made during his Friday interview with Kelly is that the Democratic Party is “anti-family” and that his criticism was not directed at those who don’t have kids.

“The simple point that I made is that having children, becoming a father, becoming a mother, I really do think it changes your perspective in a pretty profound way,” Vance told Kelly.

“I explicitly said in my remarks, despite the fact that the media has lied about this, that this is not about criticizing people who, for various reasons, didn’t have kids. This is about criticizing the Democratic Party for becoming anti-family and anti-child,” he added.

Vance’s original comments form 2021 mentioned the “choices” those Democrats had made that led them to be “miserable” and “childless cat ladies.”

While Vance claims Democrats are “anti-family and anti-child,” President Joe Biden and Harris have advocated for the child tax credit. The expanded child tax credit put in place during COVID expired in 2021 after pressure from Republicans and independent Joe Manchin. Democrats continue to fight to bring it back — with Biden calling for it to be put back in place in his FY2025 budget.

Vance said in the interview that he hopes parents realize he’s fighting for them.

“I’m proud to stand up for parents, and I hope the parents out there recognize that I’m a guy who wants to fight for you. I want to fight for your interests. I want to fight for your stake in the country. And that is what this is fundamentally about,” Vance said.

But Vance’s past comments have received massive backlash.

Kerstin Emhoff, mother to Cole and Ella Emhoff and the ex-wife of second gentleman Doug Emhoff, called Vance’s “cat lady” comments “baseless attacks.”

“For over 10 years, since Cole and Ella were teenagers, Kamala has been a co-parent with Doug and I. She is loving, nurturing, fiercely protective, and always present. I love our blended family and am grateful to have her in it,” Kerstin Emhoff said.

Ella Emhoff, the daughter of second gentleman Doug Emhoff and Harris’ stepdaughter, posted on her story on Instagram, “I love my three parents” while highlighting her mom’s statement. She asked “How can you be ‘childless’ when you have cutie pie kids like Cole and I.”

Buttigieg also reacted to Vance’s comments on CNN Tuesday night, telling anchor Kaitlin Collins that Vance shouldn’t comment on other people’s children.

“The really sad thing is he said that after Chasten and I had been through a fairly heartbreaking setback in our adoption journey,” Buttigieg said. “He couldn’t have known that, but maybe that’s why you shouldn’t be talking about other people’s children.”

ABC News’ Kelsey Walsh and MaryAlice Parks contributed to this report