- Second man Doug Emhoff hits back after Sen. JD Vance criticizes Vice President Kamala Harris.
- In a 2021 interview, Vance claimed that Harris was part of a group of “childless cat ladies.”
- Harris co-parents the two children Emhoff has from a previous marriage.
Second-in-command Doug Emhoff on Friday lashed out at Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance after it was revealed that Vance had previously criticized Vice President Kamala Harris for not having children even though she co-parents Emhoff’s two children from a previous marriage.
“What he said was disgusting. It was stupid, it was baseless, and I think the reaction not just from the country but the world — I mean, look at what Jennifer Aniston said — has touched a nerve in a way that has upset almost everyone, because everyone’s family is their own family,” Emhoff told former U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara on Bharara’s podcast in an episode published Friday.
Emhoff said Vance’s comments showed he had no respect for the realities of modern families.
“So you’re telling a lot of people in this country and in this world that they don’t matter,” Emhoff said.
“The only thing that matters is the so-called, you know, old-fashioned view of, you know, the traditional family quote,” he added.And it’s so disgusting and I’m so proud of Kirsten, who we love so much and we’re so close and we’ve done so well and so well with our three children and it hurts. It hurts my feelings. It’s heartbreaking and I’m so proud of our daughter, Ella, who supports her mother and both of her mothers.”
Emhoff’s daughter, Ella Emhoff, and his ex-wife, Kerstin Emhoff, have criticized Vance for previously targeting their family. Both Ella and her brother Cole were teenagers when Emhoff and Harris married.
“This is a baseless attack. For over 10 years, since Cole and Ella were teenagers, Kamala has co-parented with Doug and me,” Kerstin Emhoff said in a statement to CNN. “She is loving, caring, fiercely protective and always there. I love our blended family and am grateful to have her in it.”
Vance’s comments only worsen his struggle to introduce himself to the nation. He has already set a record as the most disliked major vice presidential candidate, even after the party conventions.
Taylor Van Kirk, a spokesman for Vance, said the senator’s old statements had been misconstrued.
“Once again, the left-wing media has twisted Senator Vance’s words and created a false narrative about his positions on the issues. The Democratic Party is in complete disarray with the most unpopular Vice President in history as their party’s nominee,” Van Kirk said in a statement to Business Insider.
In a 2021 interview, Vance, who was later elected to the U.S. Senate, slammed the next generation of Democratic leaders for not having children.
“We are effectively run in this country by the Democrats, by our corporate oligarchy by a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable with their own lives and the choices they’ve made, and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable,” Vance told then-Fox News host Tucker Carlson.
Vance stressed that he was not making fun of people who can’t have children, but he included Harris in that group even though she has been a stepmother to Emhoff’s two children since they married in 2014.
On Friday, Vance tried to clean up some of his past statements amid backlash. He did not back down from his belief that the Democratic Party is “anti-family.”
“Obviously, it was a sarcastic comment. I have no problem with cats. I have no problem with dogs,” Vance told former Fox News host Megyn Kelly on her podcast. “People were too focused on the sarcasm, and not on the substance of what I was actually saying. And the substance of what I said, Megyn, I’m sorry, that’s right“.”
In selecting Vance, former President Donald Trump made it clear that he was appointing someone who could lead the populist movement that has replaced traditional conservatism in the Republican Party.
