Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) declared that it’s “most important” to be the person he is as he weighed on whether he regrets his controversial “childless cat ladies” remarks during a “Meet the Press” interview that aired Sunday.
“I have a lot of regrets, Kristen, but making a joke three years ago is not at the top ten of the list,” Donald Trump’s running mate told host Kristen Welker.
Vance has faced backlash over the resurfaced 2021 remarks where he referred to Vice President Kamala Harris as one Democrat among “childless cat ladies” who “don’t have a direct stake” in the future of the country.
Welker, who cited census data showing nearly 22 million U.S. women between the ages of 20 and 39 who don’t have children, asked Trump’s vice presidential pick for his message to those women who feel he won’t represent them.
Vance, who has previously doubled down on his remarks, said he’ll represent those women before describing his comments as “sarcastic” and “willfully misinterpreted” by Democrats.
“But what I’ve simply said is that I think that it’s really a profound change that’s happened in our country, where we’ve become anti-family. And I would like to change that,” Vance said.
Welker later returned to the “cat ladies” remarks and noted that some women felt like his comments were a “gut punch” to them before asking if he regrets making the remarks.
“Look, I regret, certainly, that a lot of people took it the wrong way and I certainly regret the DNC and Kamala Harris lied about it —,” Vance claimed.
“But do you regret what you said, Senator?” pressed Welker.
“Look, Kristen, I’m gonna say things from time to time that people disagree with. I’m a real person. I’m gonna make jokes. I’m gonna say things sarcastically and I think that what’s important is that we focus on the policy,” Vance replied.
He continued, “There are certainly gonna be things that I say if I’m elected vice president that people are gonna say, ‘Well, I wish he had said that differently.’ I think it’s most important to actually be the person I actually am and to say those sarcastic comments were made in the service of a real substantive point.”
